


Secrets

by moodiful819



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Reality, Alternate Universe - Canon, Angst, Complete, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Lemon, Love Polygon, Romance, Underage Drinking, Unrequited Love, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-25
Updated: 2013-06-04
Packaged: 2017-11-22 09:18:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 15
Words: 23,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/608241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moodiful819/pseuds/moodiful819
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It started with a small slip of paper with Tahno's address on it. Post-episode 7. Semi-AU from episode 8. Tahnorra with hints of Masami and Makorra later.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Butterflies and Snakes

**Author's Note:**

> I told myself I wouldn't write fanfics for this fandom, but Tahnorra wins out over all other faculties in my life apparently and plot-bunnies are brutal. This is going to be a drabble-ish series, set post-Episode 7. I have the plot written out, so all I have to do is write it. It's the first time I've written outside the Naruto fandom in a while, so please let me know how I've done. Thank you!
> 
> Disclaimer: Don't own Legend of Korra, otherwise I'd make it longer so the pacing wasn't so fast.

 

  
**Secrets**  
by  _moodiful819_

.

.

.

It's a cold winter's day when Korra runs into Tahno.

They're in the heart of downtown. Cars honk and vendors shout prices for seafood, veggies, dishware—everything to the people milling the streets. It's been six months since Amon's attack on the Probending Arena, but you wouldn't know it if you looked around. Other than an increase in police presence, it's as if nothing's changed. But they know it has. Especially them.

Dragging a critical eye over him, Korra inspects what half a year has done to the Wolfbat's waterbender. She hasn't seen him since she ran into him at the police station, but she's heard about him in the city's rumor mill. He's back on the city scene, apparently, and the women are back in droves, all smitten with their tragic martyr of a man. The reports say he's back to normal and dragging her eye over him, she can't help but agree. He looks nothing like the broken man who ordered her to go after Amon. His back is straight; the bags under his eyes are replaced with eyeliner once more. Even the stupid wave in his hair is back. Tahno is back to being Tahno, and if Korra hadn't been there to see for her own eyes his shadowed self, she would have thought it was a dream.

"Like what you see there, Uh-vatar?" he purrs, a brow haughtily arched.

Korra crosses her arms and snorts. "Why would I like trash? Frankly, I liked your old self. The eye-bags were an improvement."

She had meant to bite her tongue after her first comment, but there's something about this Tahno that gets under her skin and rubs—irks— _twists_  her the wrong way. As bad as it may seem, she misses the old Tahno. She misses the sincerity she saw. All she has now is a spider-snake of a man, and honestly she feels it's a damn shame.

If he's hurt by her comment, he doesn't show it and switches topics quickly. "I hear the other fire-rats are staying with you at the Air Temple. Asami too."

"Yeah, what of it?" she asks testily as she tries to recall what brought her off the island in the first place: bottle of buffalo-yak milk, a bundle of cinnamon bark, and a sack of flour.

"I heard the Mako and the heiress are still an item. You know, if it ever gets too much for you, you're welcome to stay with me if you want."

He says it like an afterthought, but Korra's become a fox antelope in the headlights of a barreling Satomobile as her mind tries to comprehend what Tahno has just said. He's given her an invitation to his home—a haven from the presence of the gorgeous Sato heiress and her indecisive teammate—and she doesn't know whether to be grateful at his generosity or wary. Her guilt at her immediate sense of relief is the only thing she's sure of.

On the street, a vendor cart honks as it passes. Pedestrians moving to make way, he steers her away and protects her from the crush, hand on her arm as he leans over her. They're pressed close together and at this proximity, she can feel his breath skating over the shell of her ear and smell the spice of his cologne. It does funny things to her insides and she doesn't know whether the animals twisting in her guts are butterflies or snakes. All she knows is that for a man so cold, he shouldn't be so warm.

' _It's winter. Winter makes everyone seem warm,'_  she thinks bitterly as her eyes rake over his face, looking for a crack in his façade. His bending was taken away; six months ago, he was a wreck. He shouldn't be like this—so calm, so normal when just meeting Amon had given her nightmares for a month without reprieve—and it's putting her on edge. She doesn't know what game he's playing at, and she doesn't like it. She doesn't trust it at all.

The cart passing, the crush lessens and they separate. A piece of paper is pressed into her gloved hand and looking down, she realizes it's an address. His address to be precise. When had he written this?

"Come any time. My home is always open to you," he says before lowering his head to be level with her ear.

"And my offer for those private lessons still stand, little Uh-vatar. If you ever want to know how a real pro bends, use that address too," he whispers, a low rumble in her ear and he pulls back with a laugh, dodging her punch because  _that damn bastard._  He's played her for a fool.

Tahno. The name is a curse on her lips. She wants to punch him, slap him—anything to wipe that smirk off his face. How dare he? How dare he!

To make things worse, he's laughing at her in public. People on the street are now staring openly and the icy wind only makes her more aware of her shame. Her throat is tight and tears prick at her eyes. She has to get out of here.

Hot with embarrassment, she turns on her heel and runs towards the docks. She'll apologize about the groceries later to Pema. Right now, she can't deal with it—can't bother with it while her pride is in death-throes and she's been had for a cheap date.

Avoiding people as she runs, Korra looks down at the piece of paper in her hands. Tahno's neat flowing script jumps out at her in black ink, two crease marks showing the lines of a neat-fold. Enraged, she crumples the paper in her hand as she heads towards the docks, but try as she might, she cannot bear to throw it away and slips it into her pocket instead before summoning an ice floe and heading back to the island.


	2. Bar Crawl

The first time Korra takes Tahno up on his offer is on a Wednesday, though really, it's not by her choice.

Republic City is still in the grip of a brutal winter. Reports of benders being ambushed are coming in bit by bit around the city. The Equalist movement has fallen back since their destruction of the Probending arena, but it's only gone underground for the moment. The peace is temporary, and it's made Korra cagey. She hates waiting.

Tarrlok, on the other hand, looks as if he's having the time of his life. The council has been giving into his every request, despite Tenzin's protests _—"This is a time for action. Amon and his Equalist movement is a menace to Republic City and needs to be stopped for the safety of benders and non-benders alike,"_  he cries for the nth time—but the strain is beginning to show in crumpled suits and too much face-powder. There have been no reports of Equalist uprisings outside the city, but the knowledge there could be soon has everyone on edge and Korra has spent the last two months in meetings with the council night after night. She's tired; she's burning out, and all she wants is to sleep.

Tarrlok has other plans.

"We need your help, Avatar Korra. Can I count on your help when I next address the council?" Korra mocks in a deep tenor as she repeats what she has heard unendingly for the past eight months. This is in addition to the raids she has helped orchestrate for the past few nights. As she nurses the drink in her hand, her hand unconsciously nurses the spot on her side where a chi-blocker got her two nights ago. In her mind, she recalls the two perfectly-circular bruises she saw on her ribs in the mirror this morning. She raises her glass to her lips.

"Korra?"

The voice has enough emotion to be Bolin, but it's too deep. It's too deep to be Mako too, but she snorts softly. Mako probably wouldn't care enough to find her, but she knows that's the heartbreak talking. Mako would search the world for her if he let himself.

Slowly, she turns her head and spots Tahno at the edge of the bar. He's about to head out the door, two gorgeous women at his side. They're not as pretty as Asami, but they're pretty enough to get the job done and she can't pry her envious gaze off of them while Tahno seems to have forgotten all about them. Instead, his eyes are on her and they are full of surprise and concern.

Slipping his arms off the two girls, he walks over to her and he seems genuinely worried. Then again, it wasn't often that a person found the under-aged Avatar drinking in the bar, but the bartender won't tell and everyone else is too engrossed in their own drinks to mind. Tahno is actually the only person to notice her in her troubles and the thought warms her in a way that the alcohol has failed to.

"Korra, are you okay…?"

But his hands are on her before she can even answer, pressing against her forehead and neck like a fretting mother Arctic hen. His hands are cold from whatever he had been drinking and she leans into it, smiling with fire-whisky-flushed cheeks before grabbing them and batting them away.

"I'm fine. Go enjoy your date!" she reassures as she tries to wave him away.  _Tries_  because the alcohol is doing funny things to her coordination— _she swore she had more strength in her arms than that_ —and he's unwilling to leave her side no matter how hard she tries, which is a shame, she thinks, because those girls look beautiful—or at least, infinitely more beautiful than her—and he should have fun with them.

But apparently Tahno wouldn't know fun if it bit him in the butt. "I'm not leaving you, Uh-vatar. You're a mess and you've had enough."

Throwing a few bills to cover her tab, Tahno reaches down and slips her arm over his shoulder as he turns to the two women by the door. "Go on without me. I'm taking her home."

Korra's last memory of the bar was the heaviness of her lids and Tahno's heartbeat as he walked them out into the night.


	3. 11:58 PM

When Korra wakes up, the first thing she notices is that the ceiling is the wrong color. Her ceiling in the Air Temple is white, she recalls, whereas the ceiling here is dark.

The second thing she notices is that she isn't in her room.

Immediately awake, she sits up in the bed. Blankets and silk sheets pool at her waist. A window is open on her left. Underneath it, the moonlight swims on the floor like koi. Her mind is still fuzzy—Equalists, she thinks—and cocks an arm back to fight when a voice freezes her in its tracks.

"Don't even think about burning my bed, little Miss Uh-vatar."

Tahno, she recognizes, dropping her fist, and the adrenaline in her drops out as quickly as her firebending does. The fuzziness assails her brain once more and she tries to piece together what has happened, coherency slowly taking form as her head spins slightly from the weight of her sleep-deprivation and a night of alcohol hitting her all at once.  _Rest_ , it demands, but she has a bone to pick first.

"This isn't my house," Korra points out. "You said you were taking me home."

Seated on an ornate bench decorated with pillows—cherry, Korra supposes—Tahno snorts from behind a book. "I never said whose home," he corrects.

Turning the page, the former water-bender levels a patronizing stare from over his novel. "Besides," he begins, "I doubt our esteemed councilman would approve of my presence at the temple this late at night—especially when someone could smell the fire-whiskey on your breath from a mile away."

Despite herself, a short laugh escapes her lips. Tenzin would have a fit if she came home the way she did, and for the briefest second, Korra is shocked at the idea that he's being considerate of her and her host-family. But just as she's ready to relax, another thing bounds from the darkness of her mind and her spine is as tense as a cable wire.

"Why are you doing this? Why are you helping me?" she demands.

"It's simple: 'you scratch my back; I scratch yours.' You're going after Amon for me; the least I can do is offer you a place to stay," he explains patiently before smoothly turning the page with a quick glance at her from over the book.

"And believe it or not, I  _can_  be nice on occasion. And before you even ask, I won't do anything. Swear on the spirits. Now  _go to bed_ ," he orders, but his order falls on deaf ears.

Korra's already asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to let people know that I have a poll on my fanfiction.net profile of the same name concerning my next Tahnorra project, so if you could help vote, that would be awesome!


	4. Flowers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this chapter is more Tahno-centric than the other three and focuses on exploring his character a bit. Korra comes back next chapter though. And some important info for this chapter: Blue roses signify Mystery, attaining the impossible, love at first sight. Okay, on with the story.

It was a sunny day when Tahno received a delivery of flowers.

Winter had by now finally broken its cold grip on Republic City, and the last of the dirty slush was melting into the gutters as people cast aside their scarves for lighter wear.

Careful not to scuff his shoes—they were new and they were going to stay that way, thank you—Tahno gently prodded a wet leaf off the porch of his building as he waited for the delivery boy to find a pen for him to sign with.

"It's got to be here somewhere," he reassured and Tahno rolled his eyes.  _'Sure it is, kid.'_

As he waited, Tahno stared down at the bouquet in his hands—a bunch of definitely  _not-cheap_  blue roses—and wondered who it could have come from. He could only think of a few of his fans who were able to afford such a gift off the top of his head, when he felt his arm prodded by a clipboard.

"Sign here, please!" the young boy—boy because even if he looked only a few years younger than himself, he sure as hell didn't  _dress_  like it—said, holding out the board with the now-found pen balanced on its surface.

Frowning, Tahno snatched the clipboard from him and hastily scrawled his signature on the paper. The sooner he got the guy off his porch, the sooner he could go back to bed.

Returning the clipboard, the delivery boy smiled and held out a small card, apparently a message attached the gift which Tahno plucked from the boy's hands. While he didn't normally keep too close an eye on his sycophantic admirers, it had been a while since he'd received a bouquet of blue roses and he supposed a bit of thanks was in order.

Whatever thanks he would have expressed however was lost as he opened the card and stared at a gross caricature of himself, focusing on the dark amorphous tumor on his head that he supposed was supposed to be his hair. His brows furrowed indignantly. Who drew this?  _A five-year-old?_

Quickly he searched for the name of the sender when his eyes fell on what seemed to be the main body of the message, scrawled in the messy hand of someone he didn't recognize.

" _Thanks for letting me stay over. I didn't know what to get you as thanks, but flowers seemed to be the safest bet. You like blue, right?"_

Immediately, a look of recognition fell over his eyes. Korra. So she sent the flowers, he reflected with an almost fond smile, and lifted the card up to study the drawing she had done when he was interrupted by the clearing of a throat.

Snapping his gaze from the card, he met the stare of the delivery boy, his hand outstretched. "Um…sir? My tip?"

Reaching into his pocket, Tahno dropped two cents into the boy's hand and met the boy's indignant stare with a daring one of his own. "My tip for you: buy a pair of pants that fit. You look like your mother dressed you. You can keep the change."

A smug smile made its home on his face as Tahno watched the boy grumble and stalk off towards his truck, glad to be finally rid of the obnoxious boy.

He watched until the truck disappeared from view. The delivery boy would probably harp in the break room about his "unfair" customer, but Tahno tipped based on the quality of service and was usually quite fair. In his mind, that boy was lucky he got a tip at all.

' _Besides, beggars can't be choosers.'_

Walking back towards his doorway, Tahno paused to look at the bouquet in his hands when he suddenly burst out laughing, drawing the stares of a few passersby. They were easily ignored however; he was too busy wiping a tear from his eye. That poor girl, he could only imagine what had happened in the flower shop she got these from. She probably didn't know what they meant.

Turning towards the door, Tahno shook his head to himself and made a note to teach her flower meanings one day before pocketing the card and stepping inside.


	5. Onions

In a small booth in Narook's Seaweed Noodlery, Korra sat across from Tahno. It was lunchtime, and the small restaurant began to fill up as tables were seated and bowls were placed in front of their owners. In a quiet corner not yet touched by the crowd, Korra slurped a noodle into her mouth.

"You know, you didn't have to do this," she told him, mouth half-full as she spoke.

Across the table, Tahno shook his head and quietly sipped his tea. "I was already going to lunch anyway," he replied before cocking a brow at her. "Besides, your stomach sounded like an angry armadillo-bear. I figured I should save the city before your stomach went on a rampage."

Instinctively, Korra's arms hugged her sides as she recalled the events from an hour before. She had gone to pick up some custard buns for the kids as a treat from Pema when she ran into Tahno. He had invited her to dine with him, but just as she was about to decline, her stomach growled loud enough to slow a few people around them and she immediately regretted skipping breakfast that day. She may have gotten a free meal off of Tahno, but it did nothing to dampen her embarrassment as she pouted in her seat.

"Ha-ha, you think you're so funny," she snapped.

"Hilarious," he drawled slowly before picking up his chopsticks and pulling something from his bowl, putting it on the saucer underneath. He had been doing that the entire meal, she noticed, and leaned forward to see what it was.

"Are you picking the onions out of your noodles?" she asked, pushing away the hand that had been batting her away.

"…I just don't like them, okay?" he grumbled into the hand cradling his face, refusing to meet her gaze, and while she knew she shouldn't, a small chuckle escaped her lips. While she knew that Tahno was probably a bit high-maintenance, she had never expected him to be a picky eater and well…

…well if she allowed herself, she might have thought it was a bit cute.


	6. Tab

The first thing that came to mind as she sat in the bar was Tenzin's disapproving face.

If Tenzin could see her now, he would  _definitely_  be disappointed.

Not that she blamed him. The Avatar, his charge, was sitting in a bar and drinking fire-whiskey like water despite being  _very_  under-aged. To be honest, she was pretty disappointed in herself.

That didn't stop her from taking another sip of her fire-whiskey though, wincing slightly as the alcohol burned her throat.

"Rough night?"

Korra looked up to see Tahno beside her, and lowered her gaze back to the bar counter. They both knew he didn't have to ask. The bloodied bandage on her arm lay as an open secret between them. The question was merely to fill the silence.

Korra tiredly raked a hand through her hair, mindful not to jar what was probably a sprained muscle in her arm.

"Something like that," she sighed.

Quietly, Tahno took the seat next to her. When she didn't shoo him away, he deemed it safe to stay. "You going to be okay?" he asked placing a hand on her shoulder.

At his touch, Korra sharply inhaled as images assailed her mind—of the night's failed raid, of electric blues and the smell of burnt hair, of the cold impersonal touch where an Equalist glove had been where Tahno's hand was now  _and they were getting smarter now. They were getting faster they were getting better and they almost got her and_ —

At the gentle shaking of her shoulder, Korra collected herself and struggled to remember how to breathe. Meditative breaths, she told herself,  _'Clear your mind.'_

_Because it's _bad enough the Equalists are everywhere and the last thing you need is for them to be in your mind too and_ —_

"I'll be fine," she said evasively as she drained her drink, staring into the bottom of the empty glass. She could feel Tahno's gaze on her face. He was obviously not impressed with her half-hearted lie, but thankfully did not press and instead waved the bartender over.

"I'll have what she's having, and give her another round, will ya?"

Korra reached back into her pants pocket, mind calculating how much more her wallet could take her drinking for the night when she felt a hand over hers, pushing it down.

"I'll cover it, Uh-vatar. Don't worry," he told her as he nudged her glass back towards her, now full of the rich amber-colored liquid. She stared at it with apprehension, but after a moment of debate with herself, finally accepted the drink into her hands. However, her troubled look did not leave her.

"Tahno…not that I'm not grateful or anything, but where do you get the money to pay for all of this?"

For the past few months, whenever she had run into Tahno, he would treat her to a meal, and while it wasn't like she hated it—he had shown her where to find some of the best custard tarts in the city, after all—it was worrisome to her. If he was living off what he had won from the past championships, she didn't want to be an added financial burden and she had hoped he would tell her how he was managing to pay for everything.

But try as she might, he refused to answer and instead motioned for the bartender to refill her drink the whole night, again and again and again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter covers Tahno's background.
> 
> Also, if you are still interested in voting to decide the name of my Legend of Korra OC, the poll is up on my fanfiction.net profile of the same name. Voting ends this Friday, and will usher in a new Tahnorra series called "Canonfire."
> 
> Until next time!


	7. Soldier

Chapter 7: Soldier

As she sat on the plush chaise against the wall under the window, it occurred to Korra that Tahno had a nice room.

Actually, all his rooms were nice, and everything that was in those rooms was nice. He lived in a penthouse not far from the docks; from his window and his balcony, one could see clearly Yue Bay and the statue of her past life. Satins and silks decorated his home in boldly rich colors and Korra was surprised to find his deep fondness for maroons and purples.

He also had an affinity for gold and one could find it stitched into every throw-pillow and vase, hidden from view until it sparkled in the sun in threads finer than spider's silk. Every detail in his throw-pillow cases and the blanket draped over the arm of his wooden bench was hand-stitched, he told her. The bookcase by the window and the low table were both handmade using some of the finest dark wood in the world, guaranteed to last a lifetime; and it was clear that Tahno enjoyed artisanal items. The only thing he seemed to enjoy more than owning the items seemed to be explaining them, and every step around his home during their tour seemed to make him glow with a subdued pride that Korra never thought possible of him.

Idly running a finger over the smooth fabric of the chaise beneath her, the young avatar let her eyes wander over the room. He had invited her for tea at his home after meeting her for lunch in the city. The last time she had been here, she had been too drunk and too tired to pay attention to her surroundings, but in the light of day with her head clear and sober, she had to admit Tahno's home was quite beautiful.

"Tea is ready," he announced quietly, a tray in his hands.

Padding over the throw rug, Tahno nudged aside the small vase of orchids on the tabletop and set the tray down. On it were two small tea pots, a kettle of hot water, two small porcelain cups, and three small nondescript cans. With a practiced hand, the former bender opened one of the cans and prepared the tea before pouring it into the two cups and handing one to Korra. As Tahno set aside the tea pot, Korra took a sip and swallowed as best as her scrunched-up face would allow.

"You don't like it?" Tahno asked, part-curious and part-amused.

"I'm…not a huge fan of jasmine tea," she admitted slowly, "We drink it all the time at the Air Temple, but I just can't get over the taste. It's too floral for me and it just coats my tongue. Honestly, I prefer the seaweed tea we drank back at the compound in the South Pole."

A pause settled over the two and for a brief moment, Korra was afraid she had insulted her host when he sucked on his teeth. "Hold on, you might like this one better."

He opened another canister and threw a spoonful of the contents into the other teapot before chasing it with a flow of steaming hot water.

"Try this," he told her, offering her cup back to her.

Apprehensively, Korra took it and stared at the bottom of the porcelain, watching as the bits of plant matter swirled at the bottom of her tea. The color was a bit darker than the last tea, and the aroma was different. While there were still floral notes reaching her nose, there was also an underlying earthiness as well and something else that she recognized that was on the tip of her tongue.

"I didn't poison it or anything, Uh-vatar. Stop hesitating and drink it before it gets cold."

Indignant, Korra summoned her most withering glare she could manage at Tahno's (stupid) head as she raised the tea to her lips.

"It's good!" she exclaimed with surprise. While the tea still has floral notes in it, it seemed a much lighter flavor than the jasmine tea she drank, lending a clean crisp note to the other earthy flavors she tasted. Searching her mind, she could recognize a few of them: the earthy taste of a young green tea, the cool note of a white tea, the deeply rich satisfying astringency of a black tea, finished with a slight kick…peppercorns, maybe?

There was something else in there too though that rounded off the flavor. It wasn't seaweed, but it gave a similar clean, savory note to the tea that struck a chord in her. She was sure that she had it before, but where…? Where…?

"It's tree moss," Tahno told her, "and the spice comes from a species of peppercorn native to the Foggy Swamp region."

Setting down his cup, he picked up one of the teapots and opened the lid and Korra watched as the reddish-pink peppercorns tried to float over their mossy barrier.

"It's my own special blend of tea," he explained with a note of pride, "Costs as much as a rim off of a Satomobile just to get the moss—not to mention getting those peppercorns fresh—but it's worth it to get a taste of home."

Korra blinked in surprise. "You're from the Foggy Swamp region?"

Tahno shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Yeah, I'm from there—and before you ask, I'm  _not_  going to do that dumb accent. I spent  _years_  trying to get rid of that stupid thing when I left eight years ago—best decision I ever made."

"Oh come on, it couldn't have been that bad."

The look Tahno gave her suggested quite the contrary. "Little girl, if you thought your training compound was bad, you haven't seen those boondocks."

"I'm not a little girl!" she bristled before moving to play with her tea cup. "But don't you have family there? Have you ever gone back?"

Tahno shook his head. "I have my mother, four younger brothers and sisters, two older siblings, and my grandmother there, but I left that all behind to live with my aunt here years ago. I haven't been back once—not when my father left the family, not even when my aunt died. I mean I write—I'm not so ungrateful that I don't write and send money once in a while—but I can never bring myself to go back there. I come close, but I always stop myself. I don't belong there, and I never did; so you're not going to hear me say that 'I miss it' or something, you got that?"

"But Tahno," she said without raising her eyes from her cup, "you just did."

And for a minute, Tahno was silent as he lost himself in a sea of memories and stared regretfully into the pot of his specially-blended tea, watching as the peppercorns twirled in the pot as if dancing.

"…I guess I did, Avatar Korra. I guess I did…"

-

-

-

"Tahno, why do you act so cold all the time when you're really a nice guy?"

The question was posed by Korra as she sat on his bed. Tea had ended a while ago, and the two had settled into a bit of quiet reading to pass the time. However, despite both of them grabbing books, it was only Tahno who actually read. Korra had been staring at him intermittently for the past twenty minutes and while he was glad that she finally voiced what was on her mind—because really, that staring had been as annoying as it had been rude—he wished she had asked something else.

Still, he felt compelled to answer her question. "It's a great defense mechanism against pity," he answered succinctly as he casually turned the page. He wasn't stupid; he knew she was asking about his "return to normalcy," or whatever the hell the tabloids called it nowadays. Regardless of what people called it, Tahno had spoken the truth. He hated being pitied by other people—to be looked down upon like a broken toy that was too stupid to know it was broken—just as Korra was doing now. The way she was looking at him now made her want to snap her pretty little neck.

"So why aren't you still a mess then if it's all an act?" she asked. She had gotten off lightly compared to Tahno and she still had nightmares about her meeting with Amon, but Tahno seemed completely unperturbed by the situation. It was if he had never gotten his bending taken away, like everything was normal. What was his secret?

The Wolfbat member snorted softly behind his book. "Well, I couldn't just sit and mope the entire time. I have an image to uphold," he replied, glancing up at her before returning to his book with a shrug. "Besides, I had to move on eventually."

And across the room, Korra could only blink in surprise. She had never imagined Tahno capable of being so mature, and satisfied with the sagacity of his words that her former incarnation would undoubtedly be proud of, she picked up the book in her lap and immersed herself in its pages at last.


	8. Meditate

With a yawn and a loud popping crack of her back, Korra sat up and stared at the wall across from her bed. It was late afternoon, the fading light of the day dying the walls of her room a faint orange. She had woken up far later than she had wanted to, and she watched as her day died away with a sigh before flopping back into bed and staring at the ceiling.

' _It's so different,'_  she observed, staring at the orange ceiling; and it was. It had been a while since she'd seen the Air Temple in this light. Usually, she was at city hall meetings with the council or meeting with the task force at this time, and it struck her at how little of her time had been spent at her foster home recently. Outside of breakfast, morning training, and the little sleep she managed to procure for herself, she was rarely on the island. She couldn't even remember the schedule for meals on the island and forced herself to stretch her senses for a clue.

Through the window, the smell of frying garlic greeted her. Pema was in the beginning stages of dinner preparation and they wouldn't eat for at least another hour, Korra estimated before rolling onto her stomach.

"So now what?" she asked herself. She had an hour to kill—an hour she didn't usually have in her hectic schedule of council meetings and task force strategizing because it was her day off. While she normally spent it running errands for Pema or playing with the kids, Korra had slept most of it away after collapsing in bed after last night's exhausting raid. Most of her usual stops would be closed by the time she reached the city. Not only that, but she could feel the strands of exhaustion weaving around her brain once more.

' _Maybe a bit of meditation will help._ ' After all, she hadn't been able to do it in a while since Tarrlok began relying heavily on her aid in his campaign, and she usually felt better after meditating.

Leaving her room, Korra began to cross the grounds for the meditation pavilion, padding over the grass. Around her echoed the cry of a lone gull while the smell of the sea spray permeated the air, and there was a slight spring in her step as she watched the shadows of the flying lemurs drift around her feet. The walk to the pavilion wasn't particularly long, but it did allow enough time for her to forget some of her worries and clear her mind a bit before she sat down to actually meditate.

Absentmindedly, she looked around and watched the sun set peacefully on Yue Bay and smiled to herself at the scene. Despite its proximity to Republic City, Air Temple Island always seemed to be untouched by any of the city's troubles, and she lingered on the notion for a bit, feeling her stress melt away.

Only for it to return full-force as she found herself just a few feet away from Mako and Asami, the two of which were heavily engrossed in each other as they kissed against one of the pillars. Suddenly, she regretted leaving her room.

Heart twisting in her chest, Korra quickly returned to her room. She didn't stop to take in the view, to smell the last exhales of the sun-kissed grass before they sank down to sleep for the night, to watch the sun set behind the crest of Aang's head—there was no point. There was no solace to be found there.

Korra shut the door behind her and walked towards her bed. Naga was nowhere to be seen, but she hadn't been in the room when Korra had woken up either.

' _Probably with the kids,'_  Korra thought to herself as she reached under the bed and searched with her fingers over the tile floor. Brushing against something, she palmed the corner of the object and pulled it out, sitting with it on the edge of her bed. Idly, she ran her hand over the fine wood grain and traced the glimmer of the mother-of-pearl design inlayed into the wood. It had been a gift from her mother, sent from the South Pole during the first month of her stay at Republic City. It had been the box her mother's wedding necklace had been placed in when she had been proposed to; her father had done all the detail by himself, she told Korra. Now, Korra used it to hold the letters she received from her parents and Master Katara.

The box opened with a slight creak at its hinges. The smell of the sea washed over her, crisp and clean as ocean spray and glacial ice, as the scent of home lingered in the pages of the letters of all shapes and sizes. Recently, it had become a place of storage for other sentimental items as well as she fingered the shells the children had given her, a portrait of her done by Jinora, a rock given to her by Meelo. There was also a picture Ikki had done of her and Mako together in the box as well.

Her heart twisted in her chest as she looked at the folded drawing of her and Mako together. Ikki had done it shortly after she had asked for relationship advice from the two girls. Though it hadn't worked out between her and Mako that day, his confession that he did feel something for her had buoyed her hope and she spent night after night staring at Ikki's picture hoping that it would one day be true.

For a while, she thought it would be, but that was before she saw Asami and Mako together today. Though she knew that she was the one who pushed Mako to stay with Asami and she felt no animosity towards Asami—on the contrary, Asami was a great person and Korra felt lucky to be able to call her "friend"—Korra couldn't help the twinge of jealousy she felt seeing them together. Why did it have to be Asami? Why couldn't it have been her instead? Why couldn't it have always been her?

' _And another thing. Did they have to kiss there where everyone could see?'_  she stormed, wrinkling the edges of the drawing in her hand.

Didn't they care who could've seen them there? What if the kids saw them? But Korra knew that was a half-hearted excuse. The kids were always in the temple library studying before dinner no matter what, and the guards wouldn't have batted an eyelash if they had seen the two teenagers making out. Mako and Asami probably wouldn't have noticed anyway. They probably hadn't even known another person was there.

' _Like me.'_

It was a mixed blessing. On one hand, she was happy they hadn't noticed her. It spared her the mortification of having her presence noticed, of having to babble away an excuse to dismiss herself—of having interrupted a  _moment_ , but a part of her wished they had noticed her—had seen her there and felt  _guilty_  for not only ruining a sacred space, but for kissing in front of her—especially Mako. If he had noticed her, then she wouldn't be the only one who felt like their heart had been skewered by fine, twisting forks, but those were the sentiments of a poisonous place in her heart and she pushed the thoughts away and locked them back into the abyss they came from.

It didn't stop the pain though as an image of that kiss flashed in her head once more. Quickly, Korra shoved the drawing back into the box and began to pile her mother's letters over it. In her haste, a piece of paper slipped over the side of her bed and she reached down to pick it up, reading the numbers and letters that flowed in a familiar neat script.

From the back of her head, Tahno's offer echoed from a corner of her mind.

" _You know, if it ever gets too much for you, you're welcome to stay with me if you want."_

Korra sat on her bed for a moment as she debated what to do. Theoretically, she knew she could go to Tahno's place. She had visited many times before and he seemed to sincerely enjoy her company. He would have no qualms of her staying with him for the night should she choose to. Distantly, she realized if she did, it would be the first time she ever went to Tahno of her own accord, but even before she considered the option, she had made up her mind. She couldn't do it.

Something was holding her back. Maybe it was because of some misplaced concept of loyalty to the Air Temple and her friends here, or because Pema had already made her a place at the dinner table, but she couldn't do it.

 _But you want to,_ that deeply-hidden part of her heart whispered.

But she couldn't, she reminded herself and that was all that mattered. No matter what she felt—no matter how painful it was to stay on the island knowing that Mako and Asami were probably still at the pavilion—that she would have to face them at dinner and sit with the knowledge of their kiss—she couldn't bring herself to leave the island to stay with Tahno.

However, that didn't stop her from sitting on her bed and staring out at the sunset as she absentmindedly thumbed Tahno's address in her hand, wishing that she was stronger somehow.


	9. Errands

"Bolin, you gotta keep up!"

Looking up from the vendor's cart, the earthbender quickly ran to where his friend was waiting at the street corner.

"Sorry Korra, but you should've seen it! They had toucan-puffins for sale and they started doing tricks. One was rolling on a ball, and there were these two other ones that were singing a duet, and then  _another one—_ "

"I get it, Bo. You got excited by the toucan-puffins," Korra interrupted with a slight shake of her head, "but we're on a schedule. Pema said if we get distracted during grocery shopping again, she won't give us any of the egg tarts she's making for dessert tonight! Besides, wouldn't Pabu be jealous if you got a toucan-puffin?"

"Don't worry. Pabu knows he's the only one for me," Bolin replied dismissively, grinning as his furry friend curled around his shoulders with a purr.

"So what's next on the list?" he asked as he shouldered his half of the groceries.

Reaching into her pocket, Korra passed him the sheet of paper Pema handed them that morning. "Tofu," Korra answered as she stood on the tips of her toes to search for the tofu cart. Though there were a variety of tofu vendors in Republic City, Korra had found a particularly good supplier who unfortunately shared a rather persnickety relationship with the young Avatar.

' _I crash into his cart one time and suddenly, it's the end of the world. I said I was sorry already!'_  she thought with a roll of her eyes.

Hand shielding her eyes from the glare of the sun, Korra scanned the streets for the tofu cart when she spotted a familiar wave of hair. Tahno, she told herself. Only he would dare style his hair in so tacky a fashion, and she raised her arm to wave at him when she saw him turn slightly and lean down, and she realized he wasn't alone.

The crowd thinned for a second, allowing a better view of the former-Wolfbat. At his side was a girl. Her hair was brown and cut into a stylish bob covering her ears; she wore a pale light green shirt—a dress maybe?—partially-obscured by a fur-trimmed jacket. With her delicate features girlishly painted, she couldn't have been much older than her. She looked like a doll.

' _She's gorgeous,'_  Korra thought to herself, feeling the familiar pangs of envy in chest before she caught herself and shook them away.

' _This is stupid.'_

She had no reason to be jealous. Tahno was a free man; who he chose to flirt with was of no concern to Korra. She had more important things to deal with, anyway, like finding that tofu vendor and grabbing Bolin by the shirt collar, she dragged him down another street far from Tahno and his "date."


	10. 1 AM

Chapter 10: 1 AM

Guided by the light of the moon, Korra wandered the dark wooden hallways towards her room. It was late, and the residents of the temple were all sound asleep in their beds. Even the White Lotus guards who kept a stern alert for danger were half-dozing at their posts when she passed, but it was no surprise to her to find them like that. It was almost dawn. Most sane people would be sleeping at this time, and she would've been too if Tarrlok hadn't dragged her out on a night patrol around the city looking for Equalist hives.

If it had been up to her, she would've never agreed to be part of the task force. She never wanted to be in the first place. The councilman was a walking weasel-snake—even Tahno's occasional sleaziness was preferable to Tarrlok's—but the council had demanded she assist him. To do anything else suggested that she agreed with Amon; that she had turned her back on benders and Republic City, they told her and Korra narrowed her eyes at them. She knew Tarrlok's work when she saw it, and her annoyance with the three apparent-puppets on the council board was slowly building towards resentment. Now she understood why Tenzin sometimes loathed his job.

Padding across the wood floor, Korra made a turn at an intersection as she shook her head to herself, marveling at Tenzin's patience. She didn't know how he could deal with Tarrlok's obvious manipulation of those around him; it was a miracle that her airbending teacher even bothered showing up to work when it was clear that Tarrlok was now running the show in just about everything. The people around him were mere decorations, just parts of the scenery to obscure the hands pulling the strings. Even her. While she ran around on these goose chases and attended meeting after meeting, she knew it was meaningless. He didn't need her; he only needed her title. She was there to validate his pet project, nothing more. Any actual Equalists caught were merely a bonus. They almost never found any, anyway.

Except tonight was different. Tonight, they did find Equalists, and what was more,  _they found Amon._

Korra's lungs seized as the memory came flooding back. Of brick dust and crumbling concrete; of glowing green lenses and the flutter of flags and banners. It was just supposed to be just another fruitless raid—another meaningless show of Tarrlok's power to feed his ego—but they were there.  _He_ was there.

Her hands scrambled with the door, slick with sweat and twitching endlessly on the paper screens. Her breathing hastened; she could feel her pulse in her fingertips because— _he had been there. He had been there and Tarrlok was unconscious and just so_ _ **fucking useless**_ _as he usually was—as he usually_ _ **is**_ _—and…_ Amon was there.

Through it all—the rumble of upended building foundation, the acrid scent of burnt flesh and hair and crackling angry live wires, the panicked yelps of the two green officers who looked like they would've been better off as crossing guards—Amon was there, mere inches away from her. They had been close enough to touch, and she met his eyes through the holes in his mask, gazes unbreakable even as the factory catwalk they stood upon shook and groaned from the fighting around them. It was as if she had been trapped in the eye of a storm.

And then he reached out to her, hand moving to bridge the gap between them. She felt the contact of his gloved hand on his skin before he even touched her, flinching as she inwardly wondered if now was no longer too early, if it was actually the perfect time to take her bending away as the city teetered of the precipice of ruin, and his eyes bore into hers, feeling like drills against her skull. He was close enough for her to see into the holes of his mask, to see the bits of gnarled, mottled skin where the firebender had supposedly burned his face, and she waited with resignation for the press of the gloved hand that would take away her bending forever…

Only it never came. A member of the task force had propelled his enemy backwards into them, knocking Amon away from her. She was safe and surprised, she let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding as reinforcements for the task force finally arrived. Outmanned, the Equalists began to scatter and Korra watched them slip out the open windows. A pair of pale eyes caught her eye, and she turned feeling his gaze linger on her face warningly before Amon melted away and disappeared into the shadows of the night.

That had been two hours ago. Amon, wherever he was, was long gone and far-removed from where she was and was not likely to show himself for a while. The Equalists had been dealt a heavy blow tonight and it would take them a while to recover and regroup, but that was a shallow comfort to her. Even if it was nearly impossible for Amon to be on the island at that time, it did nothing to shake the lingering feeling of his eyes watching her from the shadows as Korra fell into a fitful slumber.

* * *

By the time Korra woke up, the sun had set far over the horizon. The sky was inky black and scattered with stars. She had slept the day away and if she had to guess, she would say she slept thirteen hours, not including the nap she took when she arrived home from the raid before doing airbending training with Jinora, Ikki, and Meelo.

Korra ran a hand through her hair, stifling a yawn. Though she knew thirteen hours was a long time to sleep and that she should be fully-rested, she was anything but. She had tossed and turned the entire day. At this point, she was barely hanging onto her sanity.

Absentmindedly, she shifted her legs restlessly in bed. Naga was well asleep on the floor, no doubt exhausted from entertaining the three airbender children again, but Korra couldn't say the same. As bone-tired as she felt, she was wide-awake; and after thirteen hours of being in bed, just "going back to sleep" was not an option.

' _Maybe a walk will help.'_

The first wave of cold air that hit her as she stepped outside washed over her like a wave, and she forced herself to relax against the instinctive shiver where the wind kissed her skin. Despite being on the cusp of summer, unlike the crowded city where heat was often trapped, the Air Temple remained temperate all year round because of its location. Yue Bay kept the island warmer in winter and cooler in summer, and Korra couldn't help but think that the Moon Spirit's protective power was so pervasive that it was ingrained even in her name.

The smell of sea salt and brine filled her senses as she walked the grounds. She could feel the exhaustion still creeping at the edges of her mind, but the sea breeze filling her lungs erased the tiredness in her bones. Sleep would not be coming anytime soon—but the young avatar couldn't find it in herself to care as she swayed and danced in the cold night air.

"What are you doing out here?"

Korra turned her head. "Mako," she said in surprise, her voice breathless as the memory of the city lights glowed in her eyes, heart thrumming as her blood sang in her veins. They looked like stars, and she watched as the image danced over the firebender's face, a dazed and dreamy smile playing on her lips as it glimmered and shone as bright as the sun.

Still, as she drank in the image, savoring it with care, she couldn't help but think that he looked different somehow. Something was missing and she wondered it was when her traitorous mind supplied the answer:  _Asami._  Asami was missing, and in spite of herself, she wondered where the Sato heiress was. The two were rarely apart, practically attached at the hip, and it hurt to know that this was accepted norm, even to Korra.

Was he looking for her, she wondered. Mako wasn't usually up at this hour; maybe he thought Asami was in danger when she distantly recalled that Asami and Bolin were both in the city together catching a movie. On the other side of the island, Pema and the children would be asleep at this hour, and if she ignored the presence of the White Lotus guards, they would be the only ones awake on the island; and though she knew she shouldn't feel happy at the prospect, she felt her heart flip once, twice in her chest despite herself.

However, Mako's face shared none of her joy.

"What are you doing out here?" he repeated.

At his accusatory tone, Korra blinked, unconsciously recoiling slightly as she felt her daydream evaporate before her eyes. "I was getting some fresh air. I…I couldn't sleep…" she explained, wondering where the edge in his voice was coming from. Had she done something wrong recently?

Mako made a sound of disbelief. "No, you're not. You're lying to me. Listen, Korra. You're old enough to make your own mistakes, but you should rethink who you choose to be your friend. I mean it."

Korra knit her brows together. "I don't understand. What are you talking abo—"

"I know you're going to see Tahno. That's why you're always leaving at night—why you're out this late at night now."

A strangled sound escaped her throat as she felt her eyes bulge from their sockets.  _"What?"_

The Southern-Water Tribe native felt her head spin. She didn't even know where to begin because really, was Mako even listening to himself? Had he forgotten about the papers already—the raids she was forced to go on night after night—the first of which got them all out of  _jail_ , she reminded.

"And besides, how would you know?" Korra asked testily, arms folded over her chest.

"Because I found his address in your room," he replied, a small yellowing slip of paper pinned between his two extended fingers, and for a second, Korra felt the world pitch and her vision go white.

"You  _ **WHAT?"**_  she exploded, watching without satisfaction as Mako cowered slightly, hands raised protectively in front of his chest. She couldn't believe this. "You went into my room?"

"I-I did it for your own good. You've been hanging around him a lot lately and I got worried—look Korra, you don't know him like I know him. You haven't heard what's happened to him since he lost his bending— He's not who you think he is. He's been sleeping around, Kor.  _He's having sex for money."_

"Yeah well, even if he is a prostitute, at least he listens to me and trusts me," she spat. "And why should I believe you anyways?"

"Look, Korra. I only did it for your own good and—"

"No! No, you didn't!" she fumed. "You're not looking out for me at all! The only person you're looking out for is yourself because even though you're dating Asami, you still like me and you can't make up your mind between us. This was never about me at all. You just don't like the fact that I'm getting close to someone who isn't you and you don't want to lose your chance with me, even if you can't decide—even if it means stringing me along while you date her and it's not fair. It's not fair to me and it's not fair to Asami and I'm sick of it! I'm sick of waiting for you to decide. You've had your chance— _multiple chances_ —and now I'm through waiting for you. We're done.  _ **Forever.**_ "

"Korra, wait!" he pleaded catching her arm only to be forced back by the arc of fire following her hand as she threw him off.

"Don't you  _dare_  touch me," she hissed, her eyes as hard and cold as the glacial ice of her homeland as she turned her back to him. On her back, she could feel his injured gaze watching her and for a moment, she faltered— _you might still have a chance. Just_   _take it back. Tell him you didn't mean it, and he probably didn't mean any harm in it because maybe he does care and maybe if you wait long enough…maybe…maybe…he'll love you maybe_ —before throwing the traitorous feeling aside. There was no point. There was no hope of him ever coming around and there never had been. He would never decide and she knew it, and she could feel the dark knot of envy and betrayal twisting in her gut as her hands shook with rage because she hated him. She hated him now, and if she didn't leave soon, there would be more for them to regret than just a singed shirt sleeve and hurt feelings.

She needed to get away. She couldn't be here anymore—to deal with Asami and Bolin when they returned because they would look at her accusingly and just side with Mako—just like when they found out what she did to get them out of jail— _just like they always did_ —but where could she run?

Her gaze strayed to the city and the millions of lights strewn out before her.

" _If it ever gets too much for you, you're welcome to stay with me if you want."_

Suddenly, she knew where to go and stalking away in the night, Korra broke into a run and dove into the glittering bay, losing herself in the cool kiss of the water as she headed towards the address that she had memorized by heart, down to the very font.

* * *

— _ck. Knock. Knock. Knock-knock. Knock-knock. KnockKnockKnockKnockBANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG-BANG—_

"Alright. Alright already! Hold your ostrich-horses," Tahno shouted, pulling on some pants as he went to answer the door. Whoever was on the other side of his door didn't seem to hear his response—or if they did, simply didn't  _care_ —and not for the first time was he grateful that he was the sole occupant of the building's top floor and his neighbors downstairs were heavy sleepers.

' _Doesn't this person know what time it is?'_  he thought irritably as the knocking continued to grate on his rapidly-forming headache.

"Alright already, quit knocking!" He yanked the door open roughly. "Wha—oof!"

The wind was knocked out of him as something slammed into his chest with the force of a probending earth disk and more. He stumbled back, catching himself against the wall, his back protesting at the odd angle as shards of pain shot up his spine. Spirits, he thought, shaking the blurred shapes in his vision back into place. What hit him?

"I can't—I can't—he went—he we— _Spirits,_  what'd I do to deserve this?"

His head snapped up. He knew that voice anywhere.

"Korra?" he asked gently, hands hovering above the young girl clutching onto him for dear life. "What's wrong, Korra?"

Her response was a string of incoherent sounds sobbed into his chest, and he tried to suppress his grimace as he felt her snot run down his skin. He could be grossed out later.

"Korra, calm down. I can't understand a word you're saying. Come on, let's go to my room. We can talk there," he said, gently nudging her from him. Somehow, he managed to get through to her and he watched her walk down the hall before crossing the entryway to close his front door.

When he entered his room, he found her sitting on his bed. Her legs hung limply over the edge, her gaze listless as she stared into her lap, hands balled at her sides. Rifling through his closet, he pulled something out before returning to her side.

"Here," he said offering her a handkerchief as he wiped the plane of his chest with one of his own.

Korra took it gratefully. "Thanks," she murmured, feeling the bed dip slightly as he sat next to her.

"So what happened? While this isn't exactly how I imagined the first time you coming to my house on your own, you obviously came here for a reason."

Hands fidgeting with the cloth in her hand, she sighed in frustration.

"I just—it—I—STUPID MAKO!" she bellowed. "It's all his stupid fault! He went into my room.  _No one_  goes into my room. Not even Tenzin. I mean, there's already no privacy at that temple because of that no-locking-the-doors rule—and I'm fine with that. I am—but you don't just go snooping in another person's room without them knowing. I don't care if you're raised in a barn—you just don't! He went through my things, Tahno. He showed me the piece of paper with your address on it, and the only way he could've gotten that is if he found the box my mother gave me and I don't let anyone touch that. It's my stuff— _my personal stuff_ —even Ikki knows better to pry into that because it's private.

"And he was giving me flak for going out at night!" she screamed, pacing the floor. "It's not my fault, okay? I mean, I didn't ask to join Tarrlok's stupid task force. The council made me stay after our one-week deal was up. I didn't have a choice. If it were up to me, I'd be asleep in bed—not running around doing fucking goose chases at three in the morning just so Tarrlok play hero at my expense.

"And he had the nerve to lecture me about hanging out with you. He said he only pried because he was concerned about the two of us when that's a lie. He only cared about himself and his chances with me, and I told him that.  _Spirits,_  does Asami even know what she's dating? I bet he hasn't even told her about the fact that we kissed still. He doesn't want to hurt his chances with her probably," she groused.

"And get this! This is what really pissed me off—he called you a prostitute!—he was so out of his gourd about losing me to you that he accused you of sleeping with people for money—I mean, how unbelievable can you get, right? Really, I get that he was upset, but how low can you get? I mean, there's no way in the spirit realm you would do that, right?"

Korra turned to him, voice bright with expectation as she looked to him for affirmation. This was something they could laugh about together, this outrageous story concocted by her jealous firebending teammate that they could pick apart and sneer and ridicule. After all, there was no possible way that Tahno would do that. He must have been talking about a different Tahno—one that just looked like him or just happened to have the same name because really, did Mako know how much pride Tahno had? He would never stoop so low, right?

Right?

Tahno refused to meet her gaze; Korra felt like she lost touch with the world completely.

"I can't believe this, Tahno. I mean, you can't be seriously saying that you're—I mean, why? How could you? I thought you had more self-respect than that! How could you sell yourself like this? Doesn't your pride mean anything to your anymore and—"

"You think I wanted to do this?" he shouted, eyes accusing. "You think I wanted to do this—to stand on street corners and suck-up to people in bars just to suck them off and have them use me in back-alleys and in the backs of their cars? I didn't want to—I used to be someone, I used to have the world at my feet. I was the one who called the shots—but after I lost my bending, the endorsements stopped coming in. Equalist movement or not, no one wants to deal with a pro-bender who can't bend anymore, so I did what I had to do to survive. Besides, what else was I supposed to do? Without bending, I'm  _nothing._  Amon didn't just take away my bending—he took away  _my life._

"So yeah, I'm a whore, a prostitute— _ **a slut**_ —but compared to my teammates who moved out months ago, I'm a hell of a lot cleaner than they are," he said with a snarl.

His back to her, he braced his hands on the windowsill. His spine was tense under his skin, arms shaking and quivering like rafters rattling in a hurricane. Moments passed without a word; he refused to look at her, and peering over his shoulder to catch his reflection in the window, his expression was unreadable, and she waited for his next move with all the apprehension of waiting for a storm.

"You were supposed to protect me."

His words were a quiet hiss through his lips, spoken so silently she would've never known he had said anything if she hadn't been watching his reflection. She watched his breath fog up the glass, the hardening of his eyes as his brows knit together when he suddenly turned, and the tremor in his voice matched the tremor in his shoulders.

"You…were supposed to protect me…" He pointed a finger at her. "You were supposed to protect me—protect us! That's what you're supposed to do— _what you said you'd do_ —so don't you dare lecture me on morality when you can't even keep your own promises, especially when it's your fault this happened to me. I only did what I had to to survive, so don't you dare come into my home with your self-righteousness and judge me. You're the Avatar. You're supposed to make sure shit like this doesn't happen and protect us all, and so far you haven't done a damn thing since you came to this city."

His fingernails dug into his palm, trickles of pain reaching him as if from a galaxy away. His blood boiled in his veins.

"Are you having fun playing hero?" he asked. "Do you think that this is just some game—another match that if you lose, you can just pick it up tomorrow? Well, I got news for you,  _hero_. This isn't a game, and no amount of playing pretend is going to hide the fact that you're a failure an—"

" _Don't you think I know that already?"_

Her voice echoed off the walls of his room, the sound tight as it rattled into his ears and he blinked as if in a daze as the world reordered itself around him. The moonlight from the window bathed his back; the plush fibers of the rug buoyed his feet, and he wondered how it was that he had gotten to the middle of the room all of a sudden. However, it fell to the back of his mind as he watched the Avatar crumple before him, folding into the shape of a young girl. Had she always been so small?

"Don't you think I know that I'm a failure?" she choked out. "That it's my fault that Asami can't look at her father the same way anymore—that she lost her home because of me?  _That I drove you to this?_  Every time I look at you, it's just another reminder of what could happen if I don't stop Amon. I'm sorry you lost your bending—I really am—but you need to understand—you and the city both need to understand;  _I'm doing the best I can._

"Do you think I planned for this to happen? I never wanted to be the Avatar, and I never expected to be thrown into this kind of war. I only left the compound to learn how to airbend and now, everyone is counting on me to save them. They keep turning to me like I have the answers—"Avatar Korra, are you any closer to catching Amon?"/ "Avatar Korra, should we focus more manpower in the assault team or hold them in the reinforcements?"/ "Avatar Korra, what's our next move?"—and I don't have the answers. I'm only 17! I don't know where we should add more manpower; where to find Amon; what our next move is. They all want me to be like Aang. 'He saved the world when he was 12 and this Avatar is five years older, so she has to know more, right?' But I don't know. Everyone looks at me like I have the answers, but I don't! I don't know anything. I'm just as scared as everyone else—I have as much to lose as everyone else—but everyone's counting on me and I don't…I don't…I don't know what to do!"

That was really the worst part of it: the not-knowing. The questions with no answers. She had no clue what to tell the reporters who were asking for a progress report, the dead-eyed former benders looking for some promise of a better future, the scared children crying for their missing parents at night. They were all looking at her—to her, but she was just as lost as them, if not more.

She was only 17. Not even two decades old and she was shouldered with the burden of fighting a war. Even if Asami and the others had confided in her that she wasn't alone, she knew she couldn't hold onto that belief forever. Mako, Bolin, and Asami—in spite of all their good intentions—were even less prepared to fight a war than she was, and Amon would never accept anyone but her to face him. No matter how much they wanted to help, Amon was ultimately her fight and her fight alone.

And what kind of fight would that be? Last night had proved already how capable she was against him and she could already feel her body freezing up at the memory.

Her lungs seized with the force of a train wreck. He had been close…so close...he could've taken away her bending if he wanted to—and he had tried. He had been knocked away at the last minute, but if he had wanted to, he could have run back up to her and disarmed her with a lock of his leg around hers and a deft hand. If he had wanted to, he could have taken away everything that she had ever known—everything that she had been, was, and would be—and it was terrifying to think that her entire being rested on the whims of a man hidden behind the anonymity of a mask.

However, she was a savior and fear was a luxury she couldn't afford—not when she had people to save.

So she would have to forget the piercing, expectant gazes; the haunting unnatural glow of Equalist goggles in the dark; the locking of her lungs whenever she saw that mask; the terrified screams that echoed in her room at night when she saw them not just awake, but asleep. Her throat was locking again.

_You stupid girl, get it together. You're going to get someone killed._

Especially since reports were starting to trickle in of Equalist sightings outside the city. They were moving. The other nations would be affected soon. They would face the same travesties Republic City was going through now and they were in no way prepared to fight this. What if they reached the Poles? What if they got to the compound? Her teachers…Master Katara…what would happen to them?

What would happen to mom and dad?

Her heart sank; she didn't want to think about it. She wouldn't have to if she stopped them here and now. Everyone would be in danger if she didn't come up with a plan, but what should she do? What was she going to do?

"I don't know! Idon'tknow!Idon'tknow!" she screamed.

Tears streamed down her arms, mouth opening in giant gasping sobs that she couldn't stop—that she should stop because she was the Avatar and she had to be strong—but she wasn't. She was just one person and she was terrified out of her mind and the only person she could talk to about this was Tenzin, but he had had his hands full with other things for the past few months. He was almost never home now, especially since Lin had gone missing while looking for her metalbending officers three weeks ago. His own children hadn't seen him in weeks as he followed lead after lead; Pema only saw him at night when he came back to the temple to sleep and the few times she saw him in passing at city hall—small glimpses of the wrinkles in his brow, his sallow skin, the deepening lines in his face because  _had he always looked so old?_ —were enough to stay her tongue. Tenzin already had enough to worry about. The Equalist cause was gaining in numbers; Amon was becoming emboldened, and the city was falling apart at the seams. The last thing he needed was to be burdened with his charge's worries about being unable to perform her duties.

But what could she do? She was terrified of Amon, of losing her bending. She wasn't smart. She wasn't pretty—bending and this stupid title were all she had, and he almost took it away. What would she do if she lost her bending? Who would she be? What would be left of the girl called "Korra?" And how in spirits' name would she ever be able to face the people she had disappointed?

She didn't know. She didn't want to think about it—did not want to go down those dark, lonely trails in her mind—but she had to. She had to if she wanted to win, to save the people who believed in her so fiercely, but she was scared…so scared…

"I don't know…I don't know…" she whimpered pitifully as a pair of arms closed around her and she instinctively flinched because  _the Equalists. They were here. They found her. They were going to get her—_ and she prepared a flash of fire when a hand caught her by the wrists.

She thrashed wildly on the floor as her arms were pinned together, desperately trying to buck her assailant's hold— _because she couldn't let them get her. She couldn't let them take her bending away. She wouldn't. Not when so many people depended on her_ —when she was pulled into someone's chest and found herself lulled by a familiar heartbeat.

"Shhh…" Tahno hushed, ignoring the clench in his gut as he rode out the last waves of her panicked struggle. He could feel her fight die in his arms as lukewarm tears ran trails down his chest. Her breathing came in horrible choking gasps between sobs and he let go of her hands, feeling them cling to his back.

Shifting higher onto his knees, he fit her under his chin, running soothing hands over her hair.

"Shhh…it'll be okay, baby girl. Shhhh…" he reassured, only to feel her cry harder into his skin and her nails bite into his shoulder blades as she struggled to keep away from the abyss of her fear. The familiar clammy sensation of mucus on his chest reached him distantly, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. His anger was gone; he couldn't even summon up enough resentment to feign annoyance at her now because what was there to be angry about anymore? They had both been equally as wrong as they had been right, and he felt his heart clench in his chest at all the terrible things he had said to her.

Tahno was no longer a child. At his age, it was understood that there were certain things one did and did not do upon leaving childhood, so he wouldn't do something as juvenile as to wish he could take back what he had said.

But he was remorseful. At the very least, he was that. He let his anger get the best of him. He had gone weeks keeping in touch with the young girl in his arms in the hope of a word of progress, but when it was becoming clear that nothing was happening, he grew resentful. How dare she flout her responsibilities to the city—to him—he had asked himself. But while Korra was the avatar, she was also still Korra and just as human as he was. Somehow, in his rage, he had forgotten that.

"Shhh…hush now…hush…" he cooed, absentmindedly stroking her hair and murmuring words of comfort to her. He didn't even pay any attention to what he was saying anymore; his voice was mere ambient noise as he tried to calm her. In the back of his head, a part of him wondered if he was really trying to soothe her or if he was really trying to soothe himself, but he quickly ignored it—shut it into a box and threw it away. He would deal with his guilt later when he was alone. Right now, there were more important things at hand, and he refocused on comforting the girl in his arms, running his hands softly through her hair and murmuring words of comfort to her deep into the night as he gently rocked them into sleep.


	11. Wake-up Call

Korra woke up to the sound of birds on the balcony. The sun was just rising higher in the sky, warming the air as the scent of steaming meat buns filled the streets. Under the window, Satomobiles honked as they motored past and boat horns blared in the bay. If Korra had to field a guess, it was probably a little past nine-thirty. However, that was not the first thing she noticed when she woke up.

No, the first thing she noticed was that she wasn't alone.

Korra woke with a start, eyes wide as she lay on her side. Terror seized her; the urge to scream rose in her throat only to freeze inside her as she snatched her limbs back as if scalded, retracting so quickly she thought she heard them snap like the wire coil Lin wore on her back. Immediately, her mind kicked into overdrive because she  _never_  kept bedmates and someone was in her bed and—oh god, who was it and how would she explain this to Tenzin?  _How would she explain this to her parents?_

There was a shift in the bed and Korra watched in mute horror as her company moved towards her in their sleep. Back ramrod straight, she scooted towards the wall, bristling as she felt his soft exhale skate the top of her head. As she lay there frozen, she was conscious of the barrier of empty space she made sure to keep between their bodies and watched with a sigh of relief as he shifted away from her naturally in his sleep. She could only guess the kind of picture she made—hair mussed, chest heaving, eyes frozen in a paranoid gaze—but luckily her actions went unnoticed and she was glad to find out that Tahno was a heavy sleeper.

Only why was she sleeping next to him in the first place?

The answer came back to her slowly, the bits and pieces of memory washing onto the shores of her mind. Closing her eyes, she saw fragmented images of waking up, arguing with Mako, leaving the temple, Tahno's apartment, arguing with Tahno—crying— _A lot of crying, actually—_ Hazily, she remembered being tucked into bed with him at her side as he murmured reassurances that Amon wouldn't touch her and that everything would eventually be fine.

As it turned out, Tahno was right. Amon had not come in the night and for the first time in a while, she had slept soundly through the night. She was the most rested and the most awake she remembered being in a while, but as she checked her lids—still puffy, damn it—it was probably just because she had exhausted herself crying.

The panic abating in her system, she let herself relax into the bed and drink in the silence of the room, letting her eyes wander about.

They danced aimlessly around the room; at the ceiling, over the bedroom door, off the vase of orchids. The even bounced off the window near her head before movement caught her eye and she found herself homing in on Tahno's collarbone.

For a while, Korra stared at it, perplexed. It wasn't as if she hadn't seen the male body before—she had often healed the White Lotus guards when she was learning healing arts from Katara—but it had always been in a clinical setting. In fact, she could only recall one instance where she had seen a male body outside of that. She had been twelve and went back to visit her home village during the summer months. A couple of the village boys were jumping into an ice hole for fun, and while not uncommon, the memory stuck out to her because there was one boy who she remembered in particular. He was a bit older than the other boys, maybe a few years older than she had been. She couldn't remember his face exactly, but she remembered he was very handsome and had a very charming smile. Her eyes followed him wherever he went on the glacier and her stomach fluttered with butterflies, she remembered.

That same fluttering feeling was making itself home again in her stomach as she looked at Tahno's collarbone. The last time she had been this close to a half-naked guy, she was fixing a collarbone she had broken during an earthbending spar, and in the early morning with little else on her mind, she was curious. Did it feel any different to touch a guy when you weren't healing him? Did all guys feel different? Would Tahno feel different from Mako?

Cautiously, she raised a hand between them and softly pressed her finger over the crest of the bone.

A murmur. It was an unintelligible string of words pressed into the pillow and she felt her spine lock up as she waited with baited breath. When he didn't wake up, she gently traced the path of the wing towards the hollow under his throat, inwardly marveling at how soft the skin was there. It was nothing like she expected, and she wondered how it would feel against her lips.

Gathering her courage, she leaned forward and pressed her lips against him experimentally. She felt her lids fall at the touch. The sensation was strange, and she felt the fluttering in her stomach grow stronger; she was tempted to do it again, and her breaths during her indecision fell like soft petals on his skin.

Her thought process screeched with a jarring halt, however, as she felt a kiss pressed into the crown of her head. Her eyes grow to the size of dinner plates. Alarmed, she threw her gaze to his face only to find his lids shut and his breathing even. The Wolfbat was still asleep; the gesture had been unconscious, and she waited tensely for her heartbeat to return to normal.

If she hadn't been awake before, she was now.

A squeak of surprise escaped her lips as the bed dipped again. The arm she had woken up to slung possessively over her hip was pulling her in again to close the gap as his other arm slipped under her head to pull her close. A caustic remark about Tahno being a closet-cuddler echoed in her mind, but the voice was a million miles away in her head. The shock wasn't what had gotten to her.

No, what really got to her was the feeling of content threading through her system. Suddenly, she never wanted to leave here and she wondered if that was how Pema felt when Korra found her still in bed some mornings.

And suddenly, it hit her with the force of moose-lion charge. Pema. The airbender kids. Air Temple Island. They didn't know she left last night. She was supposed to be at practice with them three hours ago.

Her first instinct was to spring out of bed, but that was easier said than done. Even as her mind was planning the quickest route back to the pier, her body had yet to even climb over Tahno and touch the ground. Unlike her bed at the Air temple, the mattress here was softer, only threatening to swallow her as she attempted a sitting position. Her arms, splaying at the sides for purchase, became tangled in the sheets and Tahno's arm, now an oafish, offending weight, still lay slung over her middle and just—just— _how did people do this in the morning?_

Agitated and desperate, she kicked at the sheets constricting her arms and legs as urgency pressed at her temples. She had to go; there was somewhere she had to be!

Unfortunately, telepathic communication didn't seem to be Tahno's strong suit, and she couldn't help the semi-vicious shove she gave as she tried to palm Tahno's hand away while not waking him—which was a lot harder than she thought it would be, being patient and methodical and all, because she was three hours late and Pema was probably worried and Tenzin would have a fit—not to mention what would happen if Ikki found out where she had been last night and—

"Tahno, wake up. Tahno.  _Tahno._  Tahno, wake up. Wake up.  _Wake. Up._  Tahno, if you don't move your damn hand already, I swear to Kyoshi —Damn it, just let me go! I have to get back home. I didn't tell anyone where I was going and they're probably all worried and—for Yue's sake, wake up already you—Mmph!"

Eyes wide, all fire to her tirade died as she found her mouth sealed by a pair of lips in a burning kiss.

"You fuss too early in the morning," he grumbled sluggishly as he pulled away from her. Under the pillow, his hand shifted, bringing the object closer as his other hand resettled over the curve of her hip. His tone was clear: this argument was over. His face half-sunken into the pillows, eyes shut as his slight frown dared her— _dared her_  to try to wake him up again—only cemented that fact.

On her side of the bed, Korra could only stare blankly at the unconscious figure in bed, eyes blinking owlishly in her head as she tried to comprehend what had just happened to her. Shyly, she raised a hand to touch her lips, the memory of the kiss still lingering there, and though she knew she should have been burning through a million plans to escape, her head felt strangely empty.

As if sensing her misguided desire to leave, his arms swept her even closer, caging her against him, and she couldn't help the surprised squeak that escaped her as she blushed in mortification.

On second thought, maybe she would wait until he woke up to leave.


	12. Private Lessons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lemon this chapter!

There were very few times that Korra could remember being embarrassed in her life. In fact, they were so few that she could count them all on one hand.

For instance, when she was 8, she knocked her earthbending teacher into the reflection pond at the compound. There had also been the time she had been trying to hide from her academic tutor and got herself snagged on a nail and ended up suspended upside-down in the broom closet until Howl had to fish her out; or when she experienced her first period and cried to Master Katara because she thought she was dying; or even when she sneezed a fireball that singed off her eyebrows and a good portion of her bangs (which is how her parents initially found out their child was the Avatar).

However, all of that seemed to pale in comparison as she found herself stumbling onto a heavy petting session between Mako and Asami behind a storage shed.

Spinning on her heel fast enough to give herself whiplash, Korra quickly began retreating back down the winding pass she came. She had been on her way to the main temple when she had decided to cut through the brush-covered area near the dorms. She had been hoping to find a new shortcut, but it was clear how well that turned out.

' _Well, that was certainly more than what I needed to know about Asami,'_  she thought to herself as she felt blood rush to her face as the image of Asami splayed out against the shed wall replayed in her head.

Mako too, but she hurried back towards her room before she could continue down that train of thought, the flames of her anger licking at her heels as she went.

After all, hidden in the bushes or not, they had been doing it in broad daylight where anyone could have seen them— _she_  had seen them—and if she had seen them, there was a chance Ikki or Meelo could have too since they had a penchant for frequently wandering around the island. (Jinora, she wasn't worried about. The oldest air-child usually had her nose buried in a book—not to mention that Korra had a feeling the young girl knew more about the birds and the bees than she lead on anyway.)

But getting back to the point, it was utterly irresponsible for Mako to do what he did when he did. In fact, it made her see red—which was rather unfortunate because it started dredging up images she could have done without like the bright red blush on Mako's face and—

_Mako's red scarf dangled forgotten over his shoulders as his face screwed tight, eyes half-lidded and dazed as Asami's lips parted, meeting Mako's fingers with wanton abandon and—_

Abruptly, Korra slammed the door behind her. On the floor, Naga perked her head up in surprise, an inquisitive whine crooning from her lips. Korra, however, couldn't be bothered and threw herself into bed with a groan.

"It's not fair," she complained bitterly, her voice muffled by the mattress. It had been a few months since their argument, and while they were still not on any real speaking terms, they were getting better at being civil to each other. She even managed to hold a few threads of conversation with him over lunch to smooth over Bolin's unspoken concern at the table. Not only that, she had even managed the beginnings of getting over him.

However, it did nothing to temper her flare of jealousy today.

She curled around the odd feeling in her stomach, feeling it swirl thick and slow inside of her like the mucus trails of the giant moon-jelly snails back home. Though she had managed to convince herself to move on from Mako, it seemed fate had other plans because for the past few weeks, Mako had been reaching out to her. He had been kind to her and if she were honest, it felt…kind of nice; despite herself, she could feel herself slipping back into her old ways. The loneliness, after all, faded when they were together…

Which was probably why she was paying in spades now.

Still, she couldn't say she was that upset by today. She was jealous of course—a bit sad, maybe—but above all, she was…resigned. As friendly as Mako had been to her in trying to patch things up, his relationship with Asami was a constant barrier in her mind. Even if Korra did still have some lingering feelings for the firebender, she wasn't getting her hopes up. Regardless of whether or not Mako may have liked her back, he still had yet to fully choose between the two of them. She doubted he ever would, and that knowledge hurt.

Rolling onto her side, she huffed. "Stupid Mako."

Which she immediately regretted because her mind decided that that moment was the best time to drag up that memory of Mako and Asami against the storage shed today. She slammed the pillow over her head in a desperate move to block the tangent, but it was useless. There was no stopping the parade of images in her head as they began to drag up the couple's union in excruciating detail.

"No! No! No!" The last thing she needed right now was to see those two  _like that_ , especially since she was trying to get over one of them at the moment, so it really wasn't helping her to get all hot and bothered over him and his sex life.

Now, Korra wasn't stupid. Sheltered maybe, but not stupid. She had enough cursory knowledge about sex to know what they were doing behind those bushes and what that was doing to her insides, but she had told herself she wasn't getting her hopes up. It didn't matter to her that regardless of her thoughts on him, he was still a very attractive guy, or how their excitement was doing funny things to her stomach.

_And excited they were._

Closing her eyes, the image slowly crept out towards her. Of the tightly-stretched back of Mako's jacket as his body tensed, of the choked gasps and grunts that made him jerk and made the air seem to crackle; of Asami's face as Mako worked his fingers in and out of her core, crying out in delight in such a way that it made Korra wonder if it really felt as good as it seemed.

Below the sheets, her thighs rubbed tightly together as her body shifted restlessly in bed and her hand hovered over the hem of her pants, just itching to dive in and put all her practice to work. After all, she may have been sheltered, but she wasn't stupid. Her cursory knowledge contained quite a bit of knowledge, and while she had never put anything inside of her, she knew just enough to relieve the ache between her legs.

But watching Asami react so spectacularly today made her wonder if just surface touches were enough. She knew the explosive properties of what the village women back home called "The Pearl," but was there something else that she was missing? She had never really thought about it before, but she recalled the giddy, hushed, reverent tones the women took when they talked about their warm nights in the tents. Usually, she would simply think about something else until they were done; there was no time to deal with "the talk" when she needed to learn how to achieve a better whip-form for her waterbending final.

But now that she had seen it for herself, the secret fire between man and woman, she found herself wondering about those whispered tones. Maybe there really was a reason why the village women always had that twinkle in their eye when they gossiped about their husbands; why Asami and Mako didn't seem to notice her at all.

Did it really feel that great, she wondered?

As if in response, the heat between her legs pulsed, but she coldly brushed it aside. Now was not the time to be thinking of such things, especially not when Mako had been the cause.

Snatching her hand up, she grabbed the pillow and stuffed it under her cheek as she yanked the covers over her with the other.

' _I'm just being ridiculous,'_  she told herself. She was looking too much into this. Sex wasn't as great and mysterious as she was making it out to be. In fact, there was nothing special about it. It was forgettable even, just like the arousal she felt now. If she didn't do anything about it, it would go away on its own, right? Right.

And with that, Korra went to bed. The desire pooling and tugging insistently between her legs was getting easier to ignore now as she pushed it to the edges of her mind. If she tried hard enough, maybe it would fall away forever, and she could feel her grasp on the subject begin to slip away. Sleep would come for her soon, but the arousal in her gut flared once, apparently not giving up without a fight. However, it was easily shoved back into its forgotten corner, and she smiled faintly at the futility of her enemy's struggle.

After all, it couldn't last forever, right?

* * *

Three days later, Korra was finding out just how wrong she was.

' _This is getting ridiculous.'_  She hadn't been able to eat or sleep properly in days. She was tired and cranky. To say she was distracted was an understatement. Every time she closed her eyes, images of hard muscle and heat lashed out at her, leaving her breathless and panting. The ache between her legs was a dull roar in her blood now, immovable and vocal as it whispered of the secret union of men and women in her ears. Ignoring it was out of the question, but so was treating it herself. This kind of fire demanded another.

Across the table, Korra watched as Mako and Asami sat in conversation with each other. In her seat, she glared daggers at the firebender's face.  _"You did this to me,"_  they accused between the perplexed glances Mako gave in her direction.

"Hey Korra, you gonna eat that?"

Blinking slightly, Korra straightened in her seat before following Bolin's pointed finger.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. You can have it. I'm not that hungry anyway," she murmured, sliding the plate of dumplings towards him.

"Korra honey, are you feeling alright?" Pema asked, her brows knit with concern.

"Fine! Fine! It's probably just a cold. In fact, I think I'll just go to lie down a bit. Thanks for breakfast!" she said hurriedly as she slipped out the door. In the back of her head, she wondered if that was the smartest thing to do. Pema was a woman, after all. Surely she would understand Korra's predicament, but the last time the water-tribe native went to her for advice, things hadn't turned out so well.

Not to mention that this wasn't something people normally talked about. If anything, it would end up being a talk about the birds and the bees (which she already had from her parents before she left), and if it was anything like her parents' explanation, Pema would pass the baton to Tenzin to explain and the last thing Tenzin needed was to know that not only was his charge scared, she was sexually frustrated.

' _That'll go over great.'_

Still, she had to do something about this, but who could she turn to?

_"And my offer for those private lessons still stand, little Uh-vatar. If you ever want to know how a real pro bends, use that address too."_

And suddenly, a smile split across her lips. Maybe she would take him up on those lessons after all.

* * *

"I'm sorry; I don't think I heard you correctly. One more time?"

"I said 'I want you to have sex with me,'" she repeated patiently.

"That's what I thought," Tahno said, a bit of dread leaking into his voice. How they had gotten onto this subject was beyond him. He had been sitting down to the cup of tea he had made for himself when she called. After grabbing the door, he invited her in and went to his room to grab his tea. His mind was still reeling; how did they get onto sex when all he had said was a fucking  _hello?_  However, as he looked back, he probably should have realized something was wrong when she didn't move from the doorway.

Grabbing an old handkerchief from the dresser to wipe down the table he had spat on, he wrinkled his nose at the speckled marks on his throw-pillows. Those stains would probably never go away.

"You know I was half-kidding when I offered you those private lessons, right? Both times?" he asked casually, tearing his gaze form his stained pillows to glance over his shoulder.

"Which also means you were half-serious."

' _Yeah, but I never expected you would actually take me up on it,'_  he scoffed. Irritated, he threw the handkerchief into his half-drunken tea. It was wasted anyway.

"And may I know why you are suddenly interested in my  _gracious_ offer, little girl?" he purred, crossing over to her with a curious cock of his brow.

"I'd prefer if you didn't. And I'm not little," she added shortly. Tahno raised a brow challengingly, telling her exactly what he thought of that little outburst before sweeping his gaze over her.

Her proud eyes were the first thing he noticed about her. Though Korra had never really been one to run from a challenge, the spark in her eyes was different. Where it had been one that started wildfires—brightly flashing, uncontrollable,  _destructive_ —this spark was tempered; an ember hidden beneath the ash, coiled with life and heat as it sung the cool ocean songs of the glaciers. Briefly, he wondered what had brought about this change—this evolution from a girl into a being with the secrets and confidence of a woman—and he searched her for the answer only to be met with resistance in the form of a deep expansive blue. It was like staring into the ocean through the hazy cover of sea ice, knowing life was down there only to be met with the ripple of shadows in the murky depths. Whatever secrets she had, she wouldn't be sharing them with him, which he was fine with. Everyone had their secrets after all.

Slowly, he drew his eyes down, savouring the subtle upturn of her nose, the curve of her neck, the swell of her breasts beneath the cover of her clothing. He smiled appreciatively— _Not so little indeed_ —but it wasn't like it was something he didn't already know. He had memorized the silhouette of her curves over the past few weeks after all; he knew her body like the back of his hand.

Not that he'd let her know.

"What's the matter? I thought you were dying for a go at me."

"No."  _Yes_. More than she would ever know, but it was only yet another thing he couldn't—wouldn't tell her about. After all, how could he let her know that he'd been fantasizing about her for weeks?—that he dreamed about her without reprieve; of her hand gripped tightly around him, of her lips pressed against his in heat, the wanton arch of her neck, her shuddering sigh against his ear. He dreamed of her hair splayed over his pillow, her hands fisted in his sheets, the weight of her breasts on his chest, of the few tense moments between them as she slowly removed her bindings, of her voice at the peak of pleasure; of supple curves, slick heat, and heated eyes the color of blue fire.

He felt himself harden in his pants at the memories, the blood rushing in his head. Of course he wanted her, but his desire went beyond dying. It consumed him body and soul, plagued him night and day, wore him like a trophy when it had always been the other way around; death was the least of his worries.

But desperation—that kind of desperation—wasn't something he was ready to wear just yet, so he kept silent, suspended halfway between reality and dream as his blood seemed to rush everywhere but his head.

Maybe that was why he didn't notice as Korra's gaze fell for the first time since she came in.

"Oh…" The word fell from her lips as if her heart had just fallen from her chest. "But I—I just thought…Never mind, I guess this was a mistake then…"

Movement catching his eye, Tahno pulled himself from his reverie in time to watch her turn her back to him; panicked, he caught her wrist. "Wait!"

"What? You've already made it pretty clear how you feel about this," she grumbled before pausing, her eyes staring up to meet his with no trace of her previous confidence to be seen. He should have been surprised; she was looking up at him with the trust of a child, her confidence dangling on a tenuous thread as frail and fragile as an autumn leaf in the wind, but his mind was blank. All he saw were two shimmering pools of blue as bright as the summer sea.

"I know I'm probably not as pretty as some of the other girls you've been with, but would it really be that terrible to be with me?" Her eyes were imploring him, begging him to tell her that she was wrong, but nothing came to mind. He knew he should say something to correct her—tell her she was wrong—but what could he say? There weren't enough words in the world to describe how beautiful she was to him, and every attempt to conjure something up in his head was shot down and swallowed in the undertow because she filled his every sense. Nothing came to mind because every thought led back to her and he lost himself in her eyes, swallowed without a sound into their depths.

"I'm that awful, huh?" Despite her smile, he saw how painful it was for her to say that.

"That's not it at all!" he floundered uncharacteristically. "It's just…are you sure about this?"

He cast his wary eyes towards her and she saw all he couldn't bring himself to say: are you sure you want to sleep with a cheater? A prostitute?

_Are you sure you want to sleep with me?_

He watched her eyes open in surprise. It seemed she hadn't considered those things before, these minute summaries of who he was. His accusation was clear now; he thought she was settling for him—this washed-up gutter-whore—when she deserved so much better, but who was there? She and Mako were just now approaching speaking terms; Bolin would just misread her intentions and he would want something from her that she wouldn't be able to give, and other than Tahno, there was no one else she could think of that was her age. Did that mean she was just settling then? Did she really want to do this with Tahno? Was she sure about this?

"…I am," she replied at last, and the surprise in her voice mirrored the surprise on his face.

Stepping forward, she closed the gap between them and placing her hand over his heart, she added, "I trust you."

"I trust you." Those three words echoed in his head and a lashing insult lay poised on his tongue at her naïveté, ready to tear her limb from limb because she was fooling herself if he was a person she could  _trust_  as a small girlish smile played on her lips, but there was a gleam in her eye that was everything about knowing and anything but childish. It was hidden, mature—womanly—and he drank in the sight of the little—not so little—girl in front of him, the weight of his years hitting full-force. He felt like a dirty old man; and willing or not, he wondered if he should be doing this.

The decision was taken out of his hands when Korra shyly leaned up to place her lips against his.

Slowly, he melted into the kiss as instinct took over, his head angling against hers. The difference was startling; unlike that morning when he kissed her to shut her up, this kiss was darker, needier and he could taste the hunger thickly coating his tongue. Oddly enough, she tasted sweeter than he had imagined.

It was Tahno's turn to lead as he deepened this kiss. Below, his hands began to wander her body, one slipping under her shirt to palm her flesh as the other nestled between her shoulder blades, pressing her closer. She pulled away for air and he took the opportunity to plant himself at her neck, kissing and sucking at the skin there, addicted.

Intoxicating; that was the only way to describe it—the only word he could use in his now-pathetically small vocabulary because there would never be any words good enough to describe her. It was also the only way to explain what was happening to him. Why his mind was in a fog; why his hands were slow and hesitant when they had always been anything but; why he couldn't seem to stop himself from touching her. When he had been a Probending champion, there had been no shortage of women. They threw themselves at his feet, and the ones that were less forthcoming were eventually won over with his money or his fame. He had never wanted a women—never had to want one because they always gave themselves to him before the need to desire ever came—and yet he never wanted a woman as much as he did with her. He could be under her skin, and it would still never be close enough to her. He was addicted to her, pure and simple, and it was with reverent hands that he slipped his hands under the hem of her shirt and helped lift it over her head.

He followed the cloth as it went, his eyes raking over the plains of her body that it left in its wake. They crisscrossed over her skin, drinking in the taut muscles of her stomach, the tight curves of her sides and he didn't think it could get any better as the shirt passed over her head…

And then he saw the sharp contrast of her white bindings against the rich dark tones of her skin. His sharp intake of breath was audible.

If Korra had any doubts of his desire for her, they were gone now as Tahno stared at her transfixed, gaze burning as hot as the flames she threw. Reaching up, she pulled down the band tying her ponytail, watching the muscles of his throat work as he swallowed and her hair cascaded around her shoulders. His eyes continued to follow her as she stripped her armguards, dropping them in a pile over her discarded shirt and flushing as she felt his heated gaze crawled over the newly-bared skin. Appreciation dotted his widening pupil; emboldened, she bent her arm behind her and gently tugged the knot of her bindings, the cloth clinging briefly before bursting away from her, falling in a flurry of white rivers across the floor.

It was like watching snow fall, poetry in motion as the delicate band fluttered gently down. It pooled in ripples around her feet, the discarded remnants of a shell, and before the last bit of cloth had even finished falling, the Wolfbat was on her with all the predatory nature of his name as he licked, sucked, and kissed every inch of her exposed flesh. Toes curling on the floor, her back arched against him, a dulcet moan spilling from her lips followed by a needy whine because she didn't remember feeling that good when she touched herself there—and suddenly, she's learning new places on her body she didn't know existed—places that had never felt good before, but certainly were now—and  _spirits, do that again…_

Clutching his head against her, she groaned deep in her throat as his finger flicked a particularly sensitive area of her breast, her arching hip meeting with his tight hiss. Suddenly, there were too many clothes on both of them. Time was forgotten; the only thing fueling them was the primal ache for skin on skin. In a blur of kisses and desperate groping hands, their clothes joined the pile on the floor and cupping the side of her face for another kiss, Tahno grazed the last bit of clothing Korra had on her as his thumb clacked against her hair ornaments.

Without breaking the kiss, he slowly lowered them onto the bed. She hadn't even really noticed the change in scenery, too distracted by the hand trailing up and down her side. In the back of her head, she wondered how he had managed to make her head spin with just a kiss. Practice, she supposed, and she wondered how many partners it would take to get so good before pushing the thought away. She didn't want to know.

When his mouth pulled away, she took a breath the first chance she had, feeling the air's cool kiss in her throat while a hot one was pressed to its outside, trailing lower. Unlike the previous kisses, the pace was languid now as he explored her body with his mouth at his leisure. Below her navel, she felt the insistent press of his fingertips against her center, only to be distracted by his mouth on her nipple and the occasional pass of his thumb over her pearl. On her breast, the pressure of the suction mirrored the pressure of his fingers against his entrance, and he only moved up long enough to swallow her whimper as he finally wriggled a finger inside.

Hands gripping his biceps, Korra let out a shuddering breath at the intrusion. She could feel her body's reaction to the intrusion—felt the experimental ripple of her muscles around it, felt its mutual press inside her body. Discomfort began to burn at the edges of her mind as she stretched to accommodate him, pain fizzling at her nerves as her senses were jarred to new heights. With painful acuity, she could feel the wetness leaking from her core; the girth of his finger slammed her. His hand was a lot bigger than hers, filled her more thickly than hers probably ever could have, and his name was a choked gasp on her lips as his thumb rubbed insistently over her bundle of nerves and he slipped another finger alongside.

Spirits, that felt good.

The feeling was foreign, but not unwelcome. Adjusting to the new sensation, she flexed experimentally around him cooing softly as he began to move his fingers in and out of her. His thumb continued to work over her; his mouth returned to her body in firm, meandering paths. She tried to follow the patterns in her head, but couldn't make any sense of it when her mind was constantly finding other things to focus on. The only thing she knew for certain was that Tahno, despite his maddening wanderings, was steadily moving down her body.

And then he settled between her thighs and Korra suddenly didn't know anything. Her mind flashed into an endless horizon of white; even if her life depended on it, she wouldn't have been able to remember her own name. All she could focus on was the fact that she had never felt anything like this before and she would let him mouth off as much as he wanted if he put his mouth to good use like this later.

At a particularly deep thrust of his tongue, her hands flew to his hair. There was a familiar tensing in her gut; she was close, and she buried her hands into the silky locks, relishing their texture against her skin. She never realized it before, but Tahno had fabulous feeling hair, but the thought was cut short when she felt his tongue move higher to curl around her bundle of nerves and a surprised cry flew from her lips as her orgasm suddenly slammed into her, her vision turning as white as the tundra snow.

Breathing ragged, she slowly came down from her high. Under her belly button, a hiss erupted from below and she only dimly registered his glare of annoyance over her downy patch of curls, biting back a moan as he pulled away with a final fleeting lick.

Slowly, he moved over her, arms braced on either side of her head as he settled between her legs. Reaching up, he tucked a stray hair from her face, the tender motion sending butterflies skittering through her stomach like a plague as he hovered above her. The dim lighting of the apartment cast his muscles in hard shadow. If he still had muscle tone, he would have been as chiseled as the statues she saw at the museum, but the months away from the brutal training regime of the probending world were starting to show. Underneath his lean muscle came the faint indents of rib bones; he was wasting away in this room, but this fact was hard to focus on when the traces of his last meal gleamed so prominently on his chin and his arms held her like a cage.

She was coming down from her high now, the blurred shapes sharpening under her growing focus as the fire cooled inside her, kept alive only by the languid strokes of Tahno's hand on the outer length of her thigh. His fingers felt cool on her skin; only the tips burned where they held contact with her as he took in her disheveled state with a burning gaze that seemed more at home on a firebender than him and a smug, crooked grin that only just made it to his eyes.

Watching as he dipped his head, she felt the reverent press of a kiss to her neck, a small offering to a temple of worship—one of many, she knew—and she shifted restlessly in the sheets as the flame began to grow once more in her body. Pleasure was warming her veins once more, calling to her with a voice as silky as the thin veneer of an ebbing wave and as strong as a riptide. It should have pulled her under, she knew. Everything he was doing felt wonderful, but the pleasure was being kept at bay by the doubt following on its heels.

Because it didn't seem right. Mako and Asami had been lost in their own little world, and while she and Tahno were closer physically, it felt as if the man above her were oceans away. She didn't doubt that Tahno felt some enjoyment from what he was doing, but just how much of it was real? He worked in the sex-trade now; it was his job to make her feel good, but she didn't want this if it was going to be a chore—a task—just another job to him. She wanted to mean more to him somehow, but if she did, she certainly had a funny way of showing it.

Her eyes traced patterns in the white ceiling as she felt his fingers probe her intimately one last time, blinking against the wet sound as he sucked his fingers clean. Idly, she wondered how many of his customers had done the same thing that she was about to do—if he had ever taken them to his home. Had they slept where she did now?

She shut her eyes and quickly shoved the thoughts aside. It was another thing she didn't want to know.

As if reading her thoughts, he spoke. "I never brought them here. You're the first one," he admitted tremulously, pressing a hand to her cheek, and she was surprised to find herself crying.

The relief that washed over her was enough to erase it away though and she placed her hand outside his, feeling the warmth spread through her palm as she leaned into the touch. As he pulled his hand away, she matched his gaze and met him halfway for a kiss, his feelings of anxiety and shame melting between their lips like fresh snowmelt, tasting as clean as the rain.

Heat slowly worked its way back to them. The sheets were too stifling, were thrown back forgotten as their tongues tangled together, damp and hot as the air before a summer storm. Electric was the only way she could think of describing it; she couldn't get enough of him and sweat poured from her like she was baking in her skin. Now she didn't know how she could ever think of his feelings for her as lukewarm; it was so hot, it was dizzying and she had to constantly remind herself to breathe.

Slowly, she felt him settle over her, felt the first intimate press of him into her body. Panic suddenly froze her system and she pushed against his shoulders as she pulled away from the kiss. "Wait…"

Perplexed, he looked up at her, their eyes locking over their mingled breaths, a clashing of ocean blue and snow-white.

"It's my first time…" she told him hesitantly, a vague explanation for why she stopped. It wasn't what she wanted to say at all, but it was the closest thing she could get right now because she was so anxious and excited and nervous and confused…and she just hoped that somehow, somehow he would be able to understand what she didn't and couldn't say.

Above her, Tahno swallowed thickly and she watched the fine muscles of his throat work around his Adam's apple; his spine tensed. It was the most nervous she'd ever seen him, she realized.

Hands anxiously gripping the sheets, he found his voice at last. "I'll be gentle," he reassured.

And he was, entering her with such care that she felt every jerk of his hips and choked groan he gave. She felt his steady press into her, the stretching burning like a hazy memory at the edges of her mind as he entered her inch by agonizing inch. Pleasure burst like stars before her eyes; he was so deep inside of her, she felt him in her throat as her back arched and her toes curled with every thrust he gave. She didn't know what to think; it was too much and never enough at the same time, and it was all she could do to just cling on and whisper his name as they moved together as one, rising and falling like the ocean tides, bodies surging and flowing to the rhythm of the waves.

Their peak came up faster than either had anticipated, sneaking up and surprising them so swiftly that they suddenly couldn't breathe as they found themselves tumbling through the stars.

Chests heaving and throats aching, they fell into themselves, collecting the lost bits of consciousness from the abyss. The feeling in their feet was the first to return, effectively useless but a comfort all the same. Breathless and boneless, Tahno carefully rolled off of her as Korra stared at the ceiling in wonderment next to him. Even in the greying light of the room, he could make out her gaze still dark with the aftermath of lust. The stars were still swimming in her eyes, he realized. Not that he could blame her; his own spine was a pool of sweet fruit jelly, even as his blood sang and his heart thrummed with the last echoes of their lovemaking. It wasn't anything like the song of the waves he felt when he could still bend, but it came damn close.

"Wow…just wow…"

Tahno couldn't help the smirk on his face as he glanced down at her. "Better than you expected, right?"

"Much better. I can see what the big deal is now," she laughed gently, turning to meet him with a smile.

Tahno smirked to himself. "Don't get too comfortable. This is just the tip of the iceberg," he told her, but even then, he could see the sleep filling her eyes and weighing her lids. Of course, he wasn't faring much better, and struggled to keep his eyes open.

She nodded slowly. "Yeah," she murmured quietly against his chest, stifling a yawn as she felt her head become heavy. The thumb casually stroking her arm wasn't helping either, and he watched her fall asleep on his chest as a small smile played on his lips, fingers tangling in her tresses as he kept her hair from her face before slipping into dreaming with her.

He could only enjoy his rest for a little while though. As he was soon to find out, Korra was an insatiable lover.


	13. Inversion

It had been two months since Korra slept with Tahno, and in that time, Korra found her world turned upside-down.

Lin had been found at last. Still searching for her officers, she had been pursuing a lead when she had been ambushed by an Equalist cell in the area. Once captured, they kept her at the location for three days, bound and blindfolded, as they interrogated her before being moved with the rest of the hive to Harbor Town, and it was mindboggling to think that during the weeks that she had been missing, she had been just over the mountains backing the city the entire time.

Of course, even if they did know where she was, locating her was a different story. Equalist cells were fairly numerous in the port town, all located in a highly elaborate network of cellars under normal shops and store-fronts. It was so secretive in fact that no one would have ever found her if it wasn't for a construction accident in the port town that disturbed a nesting badger-mole. Surprised, the animal panicked and tried to head to safety, burrowing through most of the farmland surrounding Harbor Town and it was in the search for survivors that they found her.

She had been tucked against a wall, lying on her side. The cellar ceiling had a gaping hole leading into the rest of the building. On the other side of the cramped basement room were the beginnings of another tunnel opposite the one it entered through. When the townsfolk jumped in, the drool from the badgermole was still wet. She was the only one they found; the Equalists had gone with the wind while she was dirty, covered in the dust of the collapsed farm cellar. Under the shell of her metalbending armor were cracked ribs and electrical burns from her interrogation for the Avatar's next move; blood caked her hair, and she was dehydrated. However, there were still blessings to be counted. During her stay with the Equalists, Amon had been visiting elsewhere; she was still able to bend, and she would live. As for her officers, their whereabouts were still unknown.

Tarrlok, on the other hand, was no longer head of the task force. After a string of failed attempts to lead the force with no results and increasing public backlash against his terror campaign against nonbenders—earlier curfews, increased patrols, property damage—the council voted to reinstate Lin upon her recovery. If she remembered correctly, Lin should have gotten out of the hospital yesterday.

The soft jazz tune she had been listening to suddenly crackled into static.

"… _we interrupt your scheduled broadcast for this special news bulletin: The Republic City Council has just reinstated Lin BeiFong, daughter of the former chief of police Toph BeiFong, to her former position as head of the Republic City Police force. There are also rumors that she has been tapped to take over the Anti-Equalist Task Force; Councilman Tarrlok has refused to comment as—"_

"Korra, turn it down. It's too early for the radio to be on."

Cocking a brow, she looked behind her in the bed. "Tahno, it's noon."

"Still sounds early to me," he grumbled sleepily, throwing his pillow over his head.

Korra rolled her eyes. "You always say that."

And he did. Every time she slept over at his place, he woke up late. Most of the time, he was still asleep when she headed back to the temple for practice; and when she could afford to stay later—today, for example—he still slept in. Now, she understood that waking up early was grueling—she still hated waking up for morning meditation—but waking up when half the day was gone was ridiculous, and she made it her mission to wake him up early.

Not that it really amounted to much; he would complain even if she woke him up at ten.

Tahno peered out from under the pillow, a frown tugging on his pale features. "And yet you never learn. What a terrible student."

"That's not what you said last night," she countered, letting her gaze slide slowly towards him knowingly.

"…Shut up," came the muffled reply, causing her to laugh behind her hand as he turned away from her.

Sitting up on her side of the bed, Korra turned her attention to the view outside the window. She would have nothing else to do until Tahno finished sulking after all—sulking, not "brooding" as he put it because you're throwing a temper tantrum like a little kid  _and you know it_ —and she let the hustle and bustle of downtown wash over her. Life in the city was vastly different from the quiet of the temple, and she listened as a Satomobile motored past. Across the street, a woman was shaking out her laundry, and one window below, two kids were blowing soap bubbles into the street.

It was amazing, she thought to herself as she watched the scene. To any other person, it probably would have bored them to tears, but she couldn't remember ever feeling more relaxed. Ever since Lin had been found and Tarrlok had begun falling out of favor within the council, she hadn't been forced into doing any late-night patrols and had managed to improve her social life a bit, growing closer to Asami and Tahno over the past few weeks. Even her still-ambiguous relationship with Mako couldn't pull her mood down, but over the past few days, it was clear that the young firebender was beginning to pull away from his green-eyed girlfriend. Not wanting to influence his opinion during this delicate time—Asami was too good a friend to have them break up on her account—she opted to stay at Tahno's place until Mako made up his mind, something the former-waterbender was only too happy to oblige.

Lacing her fingers together, she locked her hands over her knee and began to rock absentmindedly in her seat.

"By the way, Pema wanted to invite you over for dinner again tomorrow," she spoke over her shoulder. Against her back, she felt the slide of his arm as he lifted the pillow from his face to look at her.

"Are you sure you want me back there? Tenzin looked like he was going to have a heart attack in his seat the last time you brought me over," he reminded.

Korra merely rolled her shoulder dismissively, not at all surprised by her guardian's reaction. After all, he had endured Korra's many rants about Tahno and his overall stupid, frustrating personality, and had personally viewed the Wolfbat's underhanded victory at the Probending finals—not to mention what Tenzin must have heard about the former bender in the streets and the rumor mill, or that this was in fact the first boy she had brought home formally since inviting Mako and Bolin to stay with them. The look on Tenzin's face had been priceless as it screwed itself into an awkward grimace in the wake of his surprise, torn between being livid that such a man was to enter his home and confusion at such a man coming at Korra's invitation—and that was before dinner even  _started._

"He'll just have to get used to it," she replied. Which was true; as much as Tenzin was uncomfortable with Tahno's presence at the temple, Tahno had been a perfect guest. Despite his reputation preceding him, his manners had been impeccable, and Pema adored him. Tenzin would just have to learn how to play nice.

As for what this meant for her and Tahno, she wasn't sure. She didn't understand the markers of relationships too well. Though they often spent time together, she didn't know if they were an item per say, but whatever they were, she was happy with it.

Leaning her head back, she drank in the sky spread out in front of the window. She would come to that hurdle when it came, she decided. She had enough on her plate already since she had to bring Lin up to speed with what the task force had been up to in her absence from the city, but from her brief talk with Lin, the older woman had hinted that she would let Korra quit the task force to focus on her airbending training instead.

She recalled Lin's parting words with a smile,  _"Unlike Councilman Tarrlok, I don't need you to be a glory-magnet."_

Chuckling to herself, she fell back into the bed with a comfortable sigh, reveling in the feel of the silky sheets against her skin. Behind her, she felt the even rise and fall of Tahno's breathing. He was falling back asleep.

"Oh no you don't."

And she watched as Tahno's eyes flew open, mouth split in a wide grin as she continued the assault on his side. She had learned Tahno was ticklish three weeks ago on a fluke, and now it was her favorite way of way of waking him up. He said the reason she liked tickling him awake was because she had a secret sadistic streak, but that wasn't it at all.

Rather, it was because she liked the sound of his husky laugh echoing in the late morning air.


	14. Surprise

"What is it?"

The question was posed over breakfast. Seated in the kitchen of Tahno's apartment, Korra set her chopsticks on their rest and picked up the neatly-wrapped box in front of her. Idly, she fingered the bouncy twirl of ribbon by her thumb and admired the sleek paper at her touch. Sea blue, she thought to herself.

Picking up his chopsticks, Tahno gently stirred his bowl of noodles. "It's your birthday present," he answered simply before motioning to his right. "There are two more over there."

Sliding her gaze over, she saw there were indeed two more boxes on the table they were seated at of different sizes, and she wondered what could possibly be inside them. The largest one, wrapped in a dark green foil, was as tall as Pabu and could easily house the fire-ferret comfortably, while the smallest present rested in her hand. This, coupled with the impressive spread of food Tahno made for her this morning, was enough to make her heart skip more than a few beats.

But it wasn't enough to quell the tinge of unease in her gut. Her eyes slid again towards the gifts at the end of the table.

"Tahno, not that I don't love these gifts, but it's just…are you still… _you know_ …?"

"No. I stopped a little after that night you came over and we yelled at each other." He paused, taking a long sip from his tea. "Those are from the returns on my investments," he explained.

Shortly after their argument, he had stopped his services. However, one did not survive on honor and self-respect alone—ironically, the cost of even a pea shoot bun was more than his honor—but it was around this time that Asami had spoken of rebuilding the Sato legacy, starting with just a race car team since car-racing had gained in popularity since the collapse of probending in the city. She had been looking for investors and he had given some of his meager savings not devoted to rent and food as a favor to the young girl. To his surprise, his charity paid off as Asami returned to him a few days later with an envelope of crisp yuans—his share of her winnings for investing in her, she explained. Not soon after that, Tahno began to invest in other small businesses in the area. Apparently, the swamp-native had a knack for investing, earning enough to hire someone to help manage his portfolio.

"So do your investments pay for everything then?" she asked.

"No. I had to get a day job, so I'm working as a waiter at Narook's," he explained quietly. Since investing had a slow rate of return, he had to find something else to support his day-to-day expenses. While it was hard waiting tables everyday and odd to work at a place that still carried memories of his glory days on its wall, he couldn't say it was a terrible job. He certainly spent less on mouthwash now.

Meeting Korra's look of surprise, he scowled. "What? I can do honest work too," he snapped.

"I know! It's just…you at a noodle shop. Wow!" A glowing smile broke out across her face. "You've changed a lot since I first met you. I thought you hated getting your hands dirty. What caused the change of heart?"

She beamed up at him, smile as bright as the sun in the sky outside his window and he felt his heart skip erratically in his chest. His mind resounded with the single answer of "you," the thought echoing through every cell in his body because it was true. It was because of her that he was like this—why he was a better person now. She was the cause and the reason for every good decision he had made for himself. She was a good influence on him and truth be told, he was the happiest he'd ever been…

But he would rather die than tell her that, and his cheeks colored from a combination of love and mortification.

"Just finish your breakfast before it gets cold, Uh-vatar," he ordered before petulantly returning his food, unwilling to meet her gaze as he hoped she wouldn't ask about the redness dusting his cheeks.


	15. A New Beginning

" _Are you sure this is okay?"_

The question was posed on a Sunday morning. Sunlight streaming in from the window at her hip, Korra rose from her half-bent position to face Tahno with a quizzical brow as she balanced a box of books and photo frames in her hands.

"What do you mean?" she asked, shifting her attention from him to move the tape dispenser with her foot. "Tenzin already told you it was okay and he's not the type of person to just take that back, ya' know?"

If she knew anything about her mentor, it was a man of his word, and when Tenzin had invited Tahno to live with them at the island while they worked on a way to restore his bending at her request two weeks ago, he had meant it, and Tahno had accepted. Since then, all the necessary preparations had been made: A room in the men's quarters was prepared; Tahno had already told the landlord he was leaving; and the furniture that could not be brought to the island or stored away somewhere had already been sold. The only reason they were still here was to pack up any lingering small effects that they hadn't been able to grab before. If he was having second thoughts on moving out of his apartment, he picked a funny time to do it.

"I know that," he replied brusquely, "it's just… _are you sure?"_

The words were strung along a slight waver, spoken with such uncharacteristic concern that Korra felt the slightly-furrowed brows and anxious frown curved around the question before she turned to see them. For a second, Korra didn't know what to make of it. Vulnerability with Tahno was always few and far between, even with her. He hated showing this side of him, this version of him that lacked all his typical confident bravado. Whenever he fell into these moods, he refused to let her look at him until the moment had passed, however long that took. The record had been three days—three days of slammed doors and conversations of shame and self-loathing muffled by wood panels—so for him to show this part of him to her willingly was a shock, and she floundered for a way to respond.

"I mean, are you sure this will be okay?" he repeated, his words smashing through her silence in a rushing flood. "Do your teammates know? Do the other people at the temple know? What if they hate me? I know Mako already does, and Bolin never gets within five feet of me when I go over for dinner. What if I mess up? What if I get into a fight with Mako? He's not going to be happy about this,  _and what if—?"_

One hand pressing a stilling finger to his lips, Korra moved the other to cover the white-knuckled fist pressed against the wall comfortingly.

"Tahno, it'll be okay. Tenzin said yes, and he announced it to the monks last week. Besides, Pema has already given it her seal of approval. I'll work on Bolin a bit more, but Mako will just have to learn to deal. He can't sulk forever."

Tahno's dubious look told her exactly what he thought of that. Gently, Korra brought their hands between them, sliding her fingers alongside his.

"It'll be okay," she reassured quietly, earnestly, then squeezed his hand, "I promise."

At her words, she watched his expression falter and felt his hands slacken in hers. For a brief second, she felt panic settle over her heart— _he didn't believe it. He didn't believe_ _ **her**_ _—_ before feeling him return the gesture, soft and steadfast.

Slipping away a hand, he brought it to her face, gently cupping her cheek. "Alright, I trust you, Korra," he relented, his lips curving ever-so-slightly up into a warm line.

Her mouth split into a grin. To him, it seemed brighter than the sun; at the very least, certainly brighter than anything possible by earthly means. "You won't regret it."

"I haven't yet," he replied honestly and leaning against her, drank in her warmth as he let their fingers dangle together.

Suddenly, the future wasn't so terrifying anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At long last, Secrets comes to a close. I know some of you probably won't be happy with this kind of ending. Actually, I expect most of you won't be, but I want to explain why I chose to end Secrets this way.
> 
> Secrets, as you know, was a story about Tahno and Korra, but more importantly, their growth. I tried to include something new to learn every chapter, whether it was Korra who learned, Tahno who learned, or you the reader learned about either of these two (or both of these two). It was the revelation of the secrets between these two and what they learned when those secrets came out. Some of it was cute, some of it was heart-wrenching, but each time, they grew from the experience to hopefully be better, wiser people, and that's why I chose to end the way I did: because the journey of their growth isn't over. Instead, they are embarking on a new chapter of their lives, not only individually, but together. I know I didn't set their relationship status in stone, and I did that on purpose because they don't know if they will stay together. Hell, even I don't know if they will stay together and I wrote this damn thing. And I know you want them to stay together—I want them to too, and in this story, they do too—but the problem with the future is that you never know what will happen and that is a problem shared by all of us involved in Secrets. We don't know where this journey will take us, but it isn't like we're unarmed in this journey because they have hope. It's cheesy and idealistic, but hope is important, and it's the hope that Korra gives Tahno that everything will turn out okay that gives him the power to overcome his fear and move onto the next phase of his/their life.
> 
> I know I've left the end open, and I hope if you've read this afterword that you understand why. I also hope that you understand when I say that I will not, under any circumstances, be writing a continuation or sequel to this story in any shape or form. I leave Secrets on this end because Tahno and Korra have a journey, and I don't want to influence or control that in any way that forces them into character roles just for the sake of a sequel.
> 
> That isn't to say you aren't welcome to imagine a more concrete ending for yourself, whether it be two weeks or twenty years in the future. I am most definitely indulging in the idea that they do stay together after this story ends, but I feel my role in their journey has ended. I don't control them anymore; I've packed them off for college, basically, and I'm letting go. The future will take them wherever it will take them, and while it's scary and a kind of vaguely daunting experience to shut the doors to what is essentially my elaborate headcanon, I have hope that whatever happens behind those doors will eventually turn out for the best, and at the very least, they will have learned something and become stronger for it. :)
> 
> Okay, wow. I honestly didn't mean to let my commentary get this long, and if you slogged through all of that college-induced (meta?) rambling, you deserve a medal. In general, you all deserve matching hugs, since you already have all my love. When I first wrote this story, I honestly expected a few curious hits and no comments at all. I certainly never expected it to explode into the kind of thing it ended up being, and I can't stress enough how mind-blowing your love for this story has been. For all the praise and love I ended up getting for this story, thank you sincerely from the bottom of my heart. I know you guys probably hear this a lot, but you guys are honestly what make writing worth doing. I write for my own personal satisfaction, but the knowledge that someone loves my story as much as I do is always enough to put a smile on my face on sad days, and sad days are plentiful in my life. So thank you.
> 
> Thank you to those of you who recommended this to friends, to those of you who took the time out of your lives to review, to everyone who read. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
> 
> Also, for those of you interested in reading more Tahnorra by me, I actually have a oneshot collection I'm tinkering with. I still have a lot more work to do, and I haven't even started rough-edits yet, but it will be up and running a lot sooner than the full-length stories I'm toying with in my head. The collection will be titled "Canonfire," since I will be drawing heavily from some of the fuckyeahtahorra headcanons and it's my attempt at a really, really bad pun. After that, we'll just have to see if I can keep my pace between the rest of my years in college and probably more hours at work.
> 
> Until next time.


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